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| Titel |
Simulations of the transient climate response to climate engineering in the form of cirrus cloud seeding |
| VerfasserIn |
Trude Storelvmo, William R. Boos |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250109577
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-15262.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| We present a global modeling study of a so far understudied climate engineering
mechanism (CEM), namely the seeding of cirrus clouds to reduce their lifetimes
in the upper troposphere, and hence their greenhouse effect. Different from most
CEMs, the intention of cirrus seeding is not to reduce the amount of solar radiation
reaching Earth’s surface. This particular CEM rather targets the greenhouse effect, by
reducing the trapping of infrared radiation by high clouds. This avoids some of the
caveats that have been identified for solar radiation management, for example the
delayed recovery of stratospheric ozone or drastic changes to Earth’s hydrological
cycle.
Here, we contrast transient simulations of the 21st century, using a modified version of
the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We simulate three future scenarios: (i) A
simulation with the conventional high emission scenario RCP8.5, (ii) A simulation in which
climate engineering in the form of high-latitude cirrus seeding is introduced in the middle of
the century without any accompanying emission reductions, and (iii) The same as (ii), but
with emissions that are reduced by 50% over the period 2050 to 2100. We consider the last
scenario to be one in which climate engineering is used to buy time for mitigation
efforts to become effective, while scenario (iii) is one in which high emissions
are allowed to continue due to the naïve belief that climate engineering can be
used to prevent global warming in perpetuity. Our analysis focuses on the contrasts
between the regional and global climates of year 2100 produced by the three scenarios. |
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