Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform
Aerosols from anthropogenic and natural sources have been recognized as having an important impact on the climate system. However, the small size of aerosol particles (ranging from 0.01 to more than 10μm in diameter) and their influence on solar and terrestrial radiation makes them difficult to repr...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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American Geosciences Union
2009
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| _version_ | 1797081816509710336 |
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| author | Ackerley, D Highwood, E Frame, D |
| author_facet | Ackerley, D Highwood, E Frame, D |
| author_sort | Ackerley, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Aerosols from anthropogenic and natural sources have been recognized as having an important impact on the climate system. However, the small size of aerosol particles (ranging from 0.01 to more than 10μm in diameter) and their influence on solar and terrestrial radiation makes them difficult to represent within the coarse resolution of general circulation models (GCMs) such that small-scale processes, for example, sulfate formation and conversion, need parameterizing. It is the parameterization of emissions, conversion, and deposition and the radiative effects of aerosol particles that causes uncertainty in their representation within GCMs. The aim of this study was to perturb aspects of a sulfur cycle scheme used within a GCM to represent the climatological impacts of sulfate aerosol derived from natural and anthropogenic sulfur sources. It was found that perturbing volcanic SO₂ emissions and the scavenging rate of SO₂ by precipitation had the largest influence on the sulfate burden ranged from 0.73 to 1.17 TgS for 2050 sulfur emissions (A2 Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES)), comparable with the range in sulfate burden across all the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change SRESs. Thus, the results here suggest that the range in sulfate burden due to model uncertainty is comparable with scenario uncertainty. Despite the large range in sulfate burden there was little influence on the climate sensitivity, which had a range of less than 0.5 K across the ensemble. We hypothesize that this small effect was partly associated with high sulfate loadings int he control phase of the experiment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:19:22Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:8fd0ca9d-df02-4952-87a7-661c2d599be5 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:19:22Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | American Geosciences Union |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:8fd0ca9d-df02-4952-87a7-661c2d599be52022-03-26T23:06:59ZQuantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platformJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:8fd0ca9d-df02-4952-87a7-661c2d599be5EnvironmentClimate systems and policyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetAmerican Geosciences Union2009Ackerley, DHighwood, EFrame, DAerosols from anthropogenic and natural sources have been recognized as having an important impact on the climate system. However, the small size of aerosol particles (ranging from 0.01 to more than 10μm in diameter) and their influence on solar and terrestrial radiation makes them difficult to represent within the coarse resolution of general circulation models (GCMs) such that small-scale processes, for example, sulfate formation and conversion, need parameterizing. It is the parameterization of emissions, conversion, and deposition and the radiative effects of aerosol particles that causes uncertainty in their representation within GCMs. The aim of this study was to perturb aspects of a sulfur cycle scheme used within a GCM to represent the climatological impacts of sulfate aerosol derived from natural and anthropogenic sulfur sources. It was found that perturbing volcanic SO₂ emissions and the scavenging rate of SO₂ by precipitation had the largest influence on the sulfate burden ranged from 0.73 to 1.17 TgS for 2050 sulfur emissions (A2 Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES)), comparable with the range in sulfate burden across all the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change SRESs. Thus, the results here suggest that the range in sulfate burden due to model uncertainty is comparable with scenario uncertainty. Despite the large range in sulfate burden there was little influence on the climate sensitivity, which had a range of less than 0.5 K across the ensemble. We hypothesize that this small effect was partly associated with high sulfate loadings int he control phase of the experiment. |
| spellingShingle | Environment Climate systems and policy Ackerley, D Highwood, E Frame, D Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title | Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title_full | Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title_short | Quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of GCMs on the climateprediction.net platform |
| title_sort | quantifying the effects of perturbing the physics of an interactive sulfur scheme using an ensemble of gcms on the climateprediction net platform |
| topic | Environment Climate systems and policy |
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