Quantifying uncertainty from aerosol and atmospheric parameters and their impact on climate sensitivity
Abstract
Abstract. Climate sensitivity in Earth system models (ESMs) is an emergentproperty that is affected by structural (missing or inaccurate model physics)and parametric (variations in model parameters) uncertainty. This workprovides the first quantitative assessment of the role of compensationbetween uncertainties in aerosol forcing and atmospheric parameters, andtheir impact on the climate sensitivity of the Community Atmosphere Model,Version 4 (CAM4). Running the model with prescribed ocean and ice conditions,we perturb four parameters related to sulfate and black carbon aerosolradiative forcing and distribution, as well as five atmospheric parametersrelated to clouds, convection, and radiative flux. In this experimental setupwhere aerosols do not affect the properties of clouds, the atmosphericparameters explain the majority of variance in climate sensitivity, with twoparameters being the most important: one controlling low cloud amount, andone controlling the timescale for deep convection. Although the aerosolparameters strongly affect aerosol optical depth, their impacts on climatesensitivity are substantially weaker than the impacts of the atmosphericparameters, but this result may depend on whether aerosol–cloud interactionsare simulated. Based on comparisons to inter-model spread of other ESMs, weconclude that structural uncertainties in this configuration of CAM4 likelycontribute 3 times more to uncertainty in climate sensitivity thanparametric uncertainties. We provide several parameter sets that couldprovide plausible (measuredmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[1]
- Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1496617
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-137490
Journal ID: ISSN 1680-7324
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online); Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 23; Journal ID: ISSN 1680-7324
- Publisher:
- European Geosciences Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Fletcher, Christopher G., Kravitz, Ben, and Badawy, Bakr. Quantifying uncertainty from aerosol and atmospheric parameters and their impact on climate sensitivity. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.5194/acp-18-17529-2018.
Fletcher, Christopher G., Kravitz, Ben, & Badawy, Bakr. Quantifying uncertainty from aerosol and atmospheric parameters and their impact on climate sensitivity. United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17529-2018
Fletcher, Christopher G., Kravitz, Ben, and Badawy, Bakr. Tue .
"Quantifying uncertainty from aerosol and atmospheric parameters and their impact on climate sensitivity". United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17529-2018. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1496617.
@article{osti_1496617,
title = {Quantifying uncertainty from aerosol and atmospheric parameters and their impact on climate sensitivity},
author = {Fletcher, Christopher G. and Kravitz, Ben and Badawy, Bakr},
abstractNote = {Abstract. Climate sensitivity in Earth system models (ESMs) is an emergentproperty that is affected by structural (missing or inaccurate model physics)and parametric (variations in model parameters) uncertainty. This workprovides the first quantitative assessment of the role of compensationbetween uncertainties in aerosol forcing and atmospheric parameters, andtheir impact on the climate sensitivity of the Community Atmosphere Model,Version 4 (CAM4). Running the model with prescribed ocean and ice conditions,we perturb four parameters related to sulfate and black carbon aerosolradiative forcing and distribution, as well as five atmospheric parametersrelated to clouds, convection, and radiative flux. In this experimental setupwhere aerosols do not affect the properties of clouds, the atmosphericparameters explain the majority of variance in climate sensitivity, with twoparameters being the most important: one controlling low cloud amount, andone controlling the timescale for deep convection. Although the aerosolparameters strongly affect aerosol optical depth, their impacts on climatesensitivity are substantially weaker than the impacts of the atmosphericparameters, but this result may depend on whether aerosol–cloud interactionsare simulated. Based on comparisons to inter-model spread of other ESMs, weconclude that structural uncertainties in this configuration of CAM4 likelycontribute 3 times more to uncertainty in climate sensitivity thanparametric uncertainties. We provide several parameter sets that couldprovide plausible (measured by a skill score) configurations of CAM4, butwith different sulfate aerosol radiative forcing, black carbon radiativeforcing, and climate sensitivity.},
doi = {10.5194/acp-18-17529-2018},
journal = {Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)},
number = 23,
volume = 18,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Tue Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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Cited by: 7 works
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Figures / Tables:
Table 1: List of parameters that are perturbed in this study, including for each parameter a description, the range of perturbed values, and the default value in CAM4 (where applicable).
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