Premium
Climate Sensitivity From Both Physical and Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
Author(s) -
Goodwin Philip,
Williams Richard G.,
Roussenov Vassil M.,
Katavouta Anna
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2019gl082887
Subject(s) - carbon cycle , climate sensitivity , carbon fibers , environmental science , climate change , climatology , climate model , atmospheric sciences , range (aeronautics) , forcing (mathematics) , global warming , sensitivity (control systems) , geology , ecosystem , ecology , computer science , materials science , oceanography , biology , algorithm , composite number , composite material , electronic engineering , engineering
The surface warming response to anthropogenic forcing is highly sensitive to the strength of feedbacks in both the physical climate and carbon cycle systems. However, the definitions of climate feedback, λ Climate in W·m −2 ·K −1 , and climate sensitivity, S Climate in K/(W/m 2 ), explicitly exclude the impact of carbon cycle feedbacks. Here we provide a new framework to incorporate carbon feedback into the definitions of climate feedback and sensitivity. Applying our framework to the Global Carbon Budget reconstructions reveals a present‐day terrestrial carbon feedback of λ Carbon = 0.31 ± 0.09 W·m −2 ·K −1 and an ocean carbon feedback of −0.06 to 0.015 W·m −2 ·K −1 in Earth system models. Observational constraints reveal a combined climate and carbon feedback of λ Climate+Carbon = 1.48 W·m −2 ·K −1 with a 95% range of 0.76 to 2.32 W·m −2 ·K −1 on centennial time scales, corresponding to a combined climate and carbon sensitivity of S Climate+Carbon = 0.67 K/(W/m 2 ) with a 95% range of 0.43 to 1.32 K/(W/m 2 ).