Publication Date:
2017-04-11
Description:
Continued anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are changing the climate threatening “severe, pervasive and irreversible” impacts. Inadequate emissions reduction is resulting in increased attention on Climate Intervention (CI) – deliberate interventions to counter climate change that seek to either modify the Earth’s radiation budget, or remove the primary greenhouse gas from the atmosphere – Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). The majority of future scenarios that do not exceed 2°C warming by 2100 include CDR methods. At present, there is little consensus on the impacts and efficacy of the different types of proposed CDR. In response, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Project (or CDR-MIP) has been initiated. This project brings together a suite of Earth System Models (ESMs) and Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (EMICS) in a common framework to explore the potential, risks, and challenges of different types of proposed CDR. The first set of CDR-MIP experiments address climate "reversibility" and the response of the Earth system to direct CO2 removal (direct air capture). Here we present some of the first results of these experiments and also discuss the design and implementation of the next experiments that explore CDR via land use change and ocean alkalinization. In particular we will highlight which components of the simulated climate system exhibit "reversibility", when CO2 increases and then decreases, and the time scales over which this occurs. Many of the trends are similar with different models; however, there is some disagreement in the response of the simulated carbon cycle.
Type:
Conference or Workshop Item
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
text
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