skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Climate Change Projections in CESM1(CAM5) Compared to CCSM4

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, VIC (Australia)

Future climate change projections for phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) are introduced for the Community Earth System Model version 1 that includes the Community Atmospheric Model version 5 [CESM1(CAM5)]. These findings are compared to the Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4) and include simulations using the representative concentration pathway (RCP) mitigation scenarios, and extensions for those scenarios beyond 2100 to 2300. Equilibrium climate sensitivity of CESM1(CAM5) is 4.10°C, which is higher than the CCSM4 value of 3.20°C. The transient climate response is 2.33°C, compared to the CCSM4 value of 1.73°C. Thus, even though CESM1(CAM5) includes both the direct and indirect effects of aerosols (CCSM4 had only the direct effect), the overall climate system response including forcing and feedbacks is greater in CESM1(CAM5) compared to CCSM4. The Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in CESM1(CAM5) weakens considerably in the twenty-first century in all the RCP scenarios, and recovers more slowly in the lower forcing scenarios. The total aerosol optical depth (AOD) changes from ~0.12 in 2006 to ~0.10 in 2100, compared to a preindustrial 1850 value of 0.08, so there is less negative forcing (a net positive forcing) from that source during the twenty-first century. As a result, the change from 2006 to 2100 in aerosol direct forcing in CESM1(CAM5) contributes to greater twenty-first century warming relative to CCSM4. There is greater Arctic warming and sea ice loss in CESM1(CAM5), with an ice-free summer Arctic occurring by about 2060 in RCP8.5 (2040s in September) as opposed to about 2100 in CCSM4 (2060s in September).

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1565089
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 17; ISSN 0894-8755
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 218 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (37)

Forcing, feedbacks and climate sensitivity in CMIP5 coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models: CLIMATE SENSITIVITY IN CMIP5 MODELS journal May 2012
Contributions of External Forcings to Southern Annular Mode Trends journal June 2006
Future climate change in the Southern Hemisphere: Competing effects of ozone and greenhouse gases: SH CLIMATE CHANGE-OZONE VERSUS GHGS journal January 2011
Climate Sensitivity of the Community Climate System Model, Version 4 journal May 2012
Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes: A new data set from 1850 journal January 2006
Slowing of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 25° N journal December 2005
Deriving long-term time series of sea ice cover from satellite passive-microwave multisensor data sets journal July 1999
Monsoon Regimes and Processes in CCSM4. Part II: African and American Monsoon Systems journal April 2012
Temporal Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5 N journal August 2007
Sensitivity of 21st century stratospheric ozone to greenhouse gas scenarios: SENSITIVITY OF OZONE TO GHG SCENARIOS journal August 2010
Long-term ozone changes and associated climate impacts in CMIP5 simulations: OZONE AND ASSOCIATED CLIMATE IMPACTS journal May 2013
Improved estimates of global ocean circulation, heat transport and mixing from hydrographic data journal November 2000
The Community Climate System Model Version 4 journal October 2011
A New Two-Moment Bulk Stratiform Cloud Microphysics Scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model, Version 3 (CAM3). Part II: Single-Column and Global Results journal August 2008
Global simulations of ice nucleation and ice supersaturation with an improved cloud scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model journal January 2010
The Evolution of Climate Sensitivity and Climate Feedbacks in the Community Atmosphere Model journal March 2012
Climate impacts of ice nucleation: ICE NUCLEATION journal October 2012
Spatial Decomposition of Climate Feedbacks in the Community Earth System Model journal June 2013
Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming journal November 2006
Implications of Arctic sea ice changes for North Atlantic deep convection and the meridional overturning circulation in CCSM4-CMIP5 simulations: MOC IMPACTS OF ARCTIC CHANGES journal March 2013
Inter-annual to multi-decadal Arctic sea ice extent trends in a warming world: ARCTIC SEA ICE TRENDS IN A WARMING WORLD journal August 2011
The Influence of Local Feedbacks and Northward Heat Transport on the Equilibrium Arctic Climate Response to Increased Greenhouse Gas Forcing journal August 2012
Analysis of Permafrost Thermal Dynamics and Response to Climate Change in the CMIP5 Earth System Models journal March 2013
Historical (1850–2000) gridded anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of reactive gases and aerosols: methodology and application journal January 2010
Global and regional evolution of short-lived radiatively-active gases and aerosols in the Representative Concentration Pathways journal August 2011
Simulation of Present-Day and Future Permafrost and Seasonally Frozen Ground Conditions in CCSM4 journal April 2012
Toward a minimal representation of aerosols in climate models: description and evaluation in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5 journal January 2012
Global Ocean Meridional Overturning journal October 2007
How Much More Global Warming and Sea Level Rise? journal March 2005
Monsoon Regimes and Processes in CCSM4. Part I: The Asian–Australian Monsoon journal April 2012
A New Two-Moment Bulk Stratiform Cloud Microphysics Scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model, Version 3 (CAM3). Part I: Description and Numerical Tests journal August 2008
The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment journal February 2010
Diagnosing Present and Future Permafrost from Climate Models journal August 2013
Equilibrium response of thermohaline circulation to large changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration journal May 2003
An Overview of CMIP5 and the Experiment Design journal April 2012
Signatures of the Antarctic ozone hole in Southern Hemisphere surface climate change journal October 2011
The representative concentration pathways: an overview journal August 2011

Cited By (59)

Impacts of Mt Pinatubo volcanic aerosol on the tropical stratosphere in chemistry–climate model simulations using CCMI and CMIP6 stratospheric aerosol data journal January 2017
Isolating the Meteorological Impact of 21st Century GHG Warming on the Removal and Atmospheric Loading of Anthropogenic Fine Particulate Matter Pollution at Global Scale journal March 2018
Multi-scale drought and ocean–atmosphere variability in monsoon Asia journal July 2015
Asian megacity heat stress under future climate scenarios: impact of air-conditioning feedback journal January 2020
Dynamical Core in Atmospheric Model Does Matter in the Simulation of Arctic Climate journal March 2018
Contrasting the Effects of the 1850-1975 Increase in Sulphate Aerosols from North America and Europe on the Atlantic in the CESM journal November 2018
Revisiting the observed surface climate response to large volcanic eruptions journal January 2017
Global-scale environmental control of plant photosynthetic capacity journal December 2015
Drivers of the tropospheric ozone budget throughout the 21st century under the medium-high climate scenario RCP 6.0 journal January 2015
Dependence of the evolution of carbon dynamics in the northern permafrost region on the trajectory of climate change journal March 2018
Impact of air–sea coupling on the simulated global tropical cyclone activity in the high-resolution Community Earth System Model (CESM) journal March 2019
Observed high-altitude warming and snow cover retreat over Tibet and the Himalayas enhanced by black carbon aerosols journal January 2016
Impact of Spatial Aggregation Level of Climate Indicators on a National-Level Selection for Representative Climate Change Scenarios journal July 2018
A missing component of Arctic warming: black carbon from gas flaring journal September 2019
On the use of observations in assessment of multi-model climate ensemble journal November 2018
A new seasonal-deciduous spring phenology submodel in the Community Land Model 4.5: impacts on carbon and water cycling under future climate scenarios journal May 2016
Effect of projected climate change on the hydrological regime of the Yangtze River Basin, China journal February 2017
Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming journal November 2016
Regional and global temperature response to anthropogenic SO 2 emissions from China in three climate models journal January 2016
Expansion of the Lyme Disease Vector Ixodes Scapularis in Canada Inferred from CMIP5 Climate Projections
  • McPherson, Michelle; García-García, Almudena; Cuesta-Valero, Francisco José
  • Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 125, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp57
journal May 2017
Climate Change Impact on Spatiotemporal Hotspots of Hydrologic Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Chinan Catchment, Taiwan journal April 2019
Impacts of internal variability on temperature and precipitation trends in large ensemble simulations by two climate models journal February 2018
Evaluation of Surface Radiative Fluxes over the Tropical Oceans in AMIP Simulations journal October 2019
Future circulation changes off West Antarctica: Sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea Low to projected anthropogenic forcing journal January 2016
Wetter summers can intensify departures from natural variability in a warming climate journal February 2018
Advances in understanding and parameterization of small-scale physical processes in the marine Arctic climate system: a review journal January 2014
Pertinence of reactive, active, and robust adaptation strategies in forest management under climate change journal May 2017
Observed warming over northern South America has an anthropogenic origin journal October 2017
Change in strong Eastern Pacific El Niño events dynamics in the warming climate journal November 2019
Review of the global models used within phase 1 of the Chemistry–Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) journal January 2017
Potential climate effect of mineral aerosols over West Africa: Part II—contribution of dust and land cover to future climate change journal August 2015
The neglected Indo‐Gangetic Plains low‐level jet and its importance for moisture transport and precipitation during the peak summer monsoon journal August 2017
Different contributions of Arctic sea ice anomalies from different regions to North China summer ozone pollution journal July 2019
Impact of internal variability on climate change for the upcoming decades: analysis of the CanESM2-LE and CESM-LE large ensembles journal September 2019
Future emissions of marine halogenated very-short lived substances under climate change journal December 2016
The Role of Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing in Interdecadal Variations of Summertime Upper‐Tropospheric Temperature Over East Asia journal February 2019
Potential of global land water recycling to mitigate local temperature extremes journal January 2019
Present-day and future Antarctic ice sheet climate and surface mass balance in the Community Earth System Model journal February 2016
Contributions of aerosol‐cloud interactions to mid‐Piacenzian seasonally sea ice‐free Arctic Ocean journal August 2019
Amplification of El Niño by cloud longwave coupling to atmospheric circulation journal January 2016
Multimodel Surface Temperature Responses to Removal of U.S. Sulfur Dioxide Emissions journal March 2018
Recent Advances in Arctic Cloud and Climate Research journal October 2016
Quantifying climate feedbacks in polar regions journal May 2018
Quantitative analysis of the feedback induced by the freshwater flux in the tropical Pacific using CMIP5 journal August 2015
Seasonal spatial patterns of projected anthropogenic warming in complex terrain: a modeling study of the western US journal June 2016
Simulated differences in 21st century aridity due to different scenarios of greenhouse gases and aerosols journal February 2016
Evaluation of historical and future simulations of precipitation and temperature in central Africa from CMIP5 climate models: Climate Change in Central Africa journal January 2016
Urban warming and future air-conditioning use in an Asian megacity: importance of positive feedback journal October 2019
Nonlinear impacts of future anthropogenic aerosol emissions on Arctic warming journal March 2019
The impact of climate change on electricity demand in Australia journal April 2018
Selecting climate change scenarios for regional hydrologic impact studies based on climate extremes indices journal April 2018
Drivers of the tropospheric ozone budget throughout the 21st century under the medium-high climate scenario RCP 6.0 text January 2015
Impacts of Mt Pinatubo volcanic aerosol on the tropical stratosphere in chemistry-climate model simulations using CCMI and CMIP6 stratospheric aerosol data text January 2017
Potential of global land water recycling to mitigate local temperature extremes text January 2019
Observed high-altitude warming and snow cover retreat over Tibet and the Himalayas enhanced by black carbon aerosols journal January 2015
Radiative feedbacks from stochastic variability in surface temperature and radiative imbalance text January 2018
Review of the global models used within phase 1 of the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) text January 2017
Drivers of the tropospheric ozone budget throughout the 21st century under the medium-high climate scenario RCP 6.0 journal January 2015
Review of the global models used within phase 1 of the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) text January 2017