Simulation Study on the Effect of Elevated CO<sub>2</sub> on Regional Temperature Change on the Loess Plateau

CO<sub>2</sub> undisputedly affects global temperature change, but the specific impact of change in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration on regional warming remains to be quantified, especially in different climatic backgrounds. Taking the Loess Plateau as the research ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhifang Shi, Yaoping Cui, Liyang Wu, Yan Zhou, Mengdi Li, Shenghui Zhou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-05-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/10/2607
Description
Summary:CO<sub>2</sub> undisputedly affects global temperature change, but the specific impact of change in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration on regional warming remains to be quantified, especially in different climatic backgrounds. Taking the Loess Plateau as the research area, this study quantified the effect of CO<sub>2</sub> elevation on regional temperature change based on a single-factor sensitivity experiment of the regional Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) climatic model, and the results revealed the following: (i) The correlation coefficient between monthly mean values of temperature simulated by the WRF model and the observed values reached 0.96 (<i>p</i> < 0.01), and the overall spatial trends of simulated and observed temperatures increased from the northwest to the southeast. (ii) CO<sub>2</sub> concentration increased from 370.70 ppm in 2000 to 414.54 ppm in 2020, and the Loess Plateau region warmed by 0.04 and 0.06 °C under the MODIS land cover of 2000 and 2020, respectively. This indicates that increase in CO<sub>2</sub> concentration over the Loess Plateau has greater impact than land cover change on regional temperature change. (iii) As CO<sub>2</sub> concentration increased, the maximum fluctuation of temperature in summer exceeded 2.0 °C, while the fluctuations in spring (0.72 °C), autumn (0.77 °C), and winter (0.15 °C) were relatively small, indicating that summer temperature is most sensitive to CO<sub>2</sub> concentration change. By emphasizing the marked temperature difference associated with the same CO<sub>2</sub> change in different seasons, this study provides an important basis for extending the understanding of the differences in the effect of CO<sub>2</sub> on regional temperatures.
ISSN:2072-4292