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Title: Climate response to indirect anthropogenic sulfate forcing

Abstract

A general circulation model (GCM) has been used to conduct sensitivity tests of the climatic influence imparted by a cloud albedo change hypothesized to result from anthropogenic increases in atmospheric sulfur. The global distribution of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols is computed with a simplified 3-D transport model. The NCAR CCM1 has been run with a cloud albedo perturbation that is a function of the distribution of anthropegenic sulfur particles. The authors report climate statistics from the last 20 years of 30 year GCM control and experiment runs. The climate response is strongest in the northern hemisphere winter, with cooling over the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans on the order of 2-6{degrees}C. The 500 mb geopotential height field shows a significant deepening over the Canadian provinces, enhancing the northernly flow over the North American and North Atlantic regions during boreal winter. The equilibrium climate does not, however, cool over central Europe in northern hemisphere winter, despite this region being one of the most heavily impacted areas in the world by sulfate aerosol. The anthropogenic sulfate {open_quotes}indirect{close_quotes} forcing elicits a highly non-linear climate response that can be explained through changes in the hemispheric wave train. These results may assist in explaining themore » long-standing climate change issue of what causes the cooling over the North Atlantic and North Pacific over the last decades, a feature that is not explained by increases in greenhouse gases alone. 18 refs., 4 figs.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
  3. Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
161582
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 22; Journal Issue: 15; Other Information: PBD: 1 Aug 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; SULFATES; ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION; CLIMATIC CHANGE; FORCING FUNCTIONS; PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS; EARTH ATMOSPHERE; GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS; C CODES

Citation Formats

Erickson, D J, Oglesby, R J, and Marshall, S. Climate response to indirect anthropogenic sulfate forcing. United States: N. p., 1995. Web. doi:10.1029/95GL01660.
Erickson, D J, Oglesby, R J, & Marshall, S. Climate response to indirect anthropogenic sulfate forcing. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/95GL01660
Erickson, D J, Oglesby, R J, and Marshall, S. 1995. "Climate response to indirect anthropogenic sulfate forcing". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/95GL01660.
@article{osti_161582,
title = {Climate response to indirect anthropogenic sulfate forcing},
author = {Erickson, D J and Oglesby, R J and Marshall, S},
abstractNote = {A general circulation model (GCM) has been used to conduct sensitivity tests of the climatic influence imparted by a cloud albedo change hypothesized to result from anthropogenic increases in atmospheric sulfur. The global distribution of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols is computed with a simplified 3-D transport model. The NCAR CCM1 has been run with a cloud albedo perturbation that is a function of the distribution of anthropegenic sulfur particles. The authors report climate statistics from the last 20 years of 30 year GCM control and experiment runs. The climate response is strongest in the northern hemisphere winter, with cooling over the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans on the order of 2-6{degrees}C. The 500 mb geopotential height field shows a significant deepening over the Canadian provinces, enhancing the northernly flow over the North American and North Atlantic regions during boreal winter. The equilibrium climate does not, however, cool over central Europe in northern hemisphere winter, despite this region being one of the most heavily impacted areas in the world by sulfate aerosol. The anthropogenic sulfate {open_quotes}indirect{close_quotes} forcing elicits a highly non-linear climate response that can be explained through changes in the hemispheric wave train. These results may assist in explaining the long-standing climate change issue of what causes the cooling over the North Atlantic and North Pacific over the last decades, a feature that is not explained by increases in greenhouse gases alone. 18 refs., 4 figs.},
doi = {10.1029/95GL01660},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/161582}, journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 15,
volume = 22,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995},
month = {Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995}
}