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Twentieth century climate model response and climate sensitivity
Author(s) -
Kiehl Jeffrey T.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031383
Subject(s) - forcing (mathematics) , climate sensitivity , climatology , climate commitment , environmental science , climate change , climate model , radiative forcing , sensitivity (control systems) , range (aeronautics) , transient climate simulation , atmospheric sciences , global warming , effects of global warming , geology , oceanography , materials science , electronic engineering , engineering , composite material
Climate forcing and climate sensitivity are two key factors in understanding Earth's climate. There is considerable interest in decreasing our uncertainty in climate sensitivity. This study explores the role of these two factors in climate simulations of the 20th century. It is found that the total anthropogenic forcing for a wide range of climate models differs by a factor of two and that the total forcing is inversely correlated to climate sensitivity. Much of the uncertainty in total anthropogenic forcing derives from a threefold range of uncertainty in the aerosol forcing used in the simulations.