Carbon-Climate Interactions using the NCAR Climate System Model (CSM)

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

The planned work has the following objectives: (1) to understand the processes that are most important in determining the future growth of atmospheric CO2 for a given anthropogenic CO2 emission scenario, and (2) to understand how atmospheric CO2 growth rate and climate change may co-evolve in future. The principal tool of the investigation will be Community Climate System Model (CCSM). The PI proposes to develop and evaluate an interactive carbon module in the CSM. Instead of forcing the CSM with specified rates of CO2 growth, they will specify fossil fuel CO2 source and allow the model to interactively predict the atmospheric CO2 burden, radiative forcing and subsequent climate change. Their immediate goal is to examine future rates of atmospheric CO2 growth and climate change as a result of climate feedbacks on the carbon cycle. The work is important because it will increase our understanding and ability to model the carbon cycle in a coupled model framework.