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The hydrological impact of geoengineering in the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP)
- Source :
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 118:11-11,058
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2013.
-
Abstract
- The hydrological impact of enhancing Earth's albedo by solar radiation management is investigated using simulations from 12 Earth System models contributing to the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). We contrast an idealized experiment, G1, where the global mean radiative forcing is kept at preindustrial conditions by reducing insolation while the CO 2 concentration is quadrupled to a 4×CO2 experiment. The reduction of evapotranspiration over land with instantaneously increasing CO2 concentrations in both experiments largely contributes to an initial reduction in evaporation. A warming surface associated with the transient adjustment in 4×CO2 generates an increase of global precipitation by around 6.9% with large zonal and regional changes in both directions, including a precipitation increase of 10% over Asia and a reduction of 7% for the North American summer monsoon. Reduced global evaporation persists in G1 with temperatures close to preindustrial conditions. Global precipitation is reduced by around 4.5%, and significant reductions occur over monsoonal land regions: East Asia (6%), South Africa (5%), North America (7%), and South America (6%). The general precipitation performance in models is discussed in comparison to observations. In contrast to the 4×CO2 experiment, where the frequency of months with heavy precipitation intensity is increased by over 50% in comparison to the control, a reduction of up to 20% is simulated in G1. These changes in precipitation in both total amount and frequency of extremes point to a considerable weakening of the hydrological cycle in a geoengineered world.
- Subjects :
- Atmospheric Science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Climate change
010501 environmental sciences
15. Life on land
Radiative forcing
Albedo
Atmospheric sciences
Monsoon
01 natural sciences
Geophysics
13. Climate action
Space and Planetary Science
Solar radiation management
Climatology
Evapotranspiration
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Environmental science
Precipitation
Water cycle
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2169897X
- Volume :
- 118
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........3c9fd43318a8987ab15988d853fd1757