Analytically tractable climate-carbon cycle feedbacks under 21st century anthropogenic forcing

Lade, S.J., Donges, J.F., Fetzer, I., Anderies, J.M., Beer, C., Cornell, S.E., Gasser, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4882-2647, Norberg, J., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., & Steffen, W. (2018). Analytically tractable climate-carbon cycle feedbacks under 21st century anthropogenic forcing. Earth System Dynamics 9 507-523. 10.5194/esd-2017-78.

Preview

Text esd-2017-78.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (418kB) | Preview

Abstract

Changes to climate-carbon cycle feedbacks may significantly affect the Earth System’s response to greenhouse gas emissions. These feedbacks are usually analysed from numerical output of complex and arguably opaque Earth System Models (ESMs). Here, we construct a stylized global climate-carbon cycle model, test its output against complex ESMs, and investigate the strengths of its climate-carbon cycle feedbacks analytically. The analytical expressions we obtain aid understanding of carbon-cycle feedbacks and the operation of the carbon cycle. We use our results to analytically study the relative strengths of different climate-carbon cycle feedbacks and how they may change in the future, as well as to compare different feedback formalisms. Simple models such as that developed here also provide "workbenches" for simple but mechanistically based explorations of Earth system processes, such as interactions and feedbacks between the Planetary Boundaries, that are currently too uncertain to be included in complex ESMs.

Item Type:	Article
Research Programs:	Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM)
Depositing User:	Romeo Molina
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2017 11:47
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2021 17:29
URI:	https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/14886

Actions (login required)

View Item