James R. Christian

Carbon emission limits required to satisfy future representative concentration pathways of greenhouse gases

[1]xa0The response of the second-generation Canadian earth system model (CanESM2) to historical (1850–2005) and future (2006–2100) natural and anthropogenic forcing is assessed using the newly-developed representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols. Allowable emissions required to achieve the future atmospheric CO2 concentration pathways, are reported for the RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. For the historical 1850–2005 period, cumulative land plus ocean carbon uptake and, consequently, cumulative diagnosed emissions compare well with observation-based estimates. The simulated historical carbon uptake is somewhat weaker for the ocean and stronger for the land relative to their observation-based estimates. The simulated historical warming of 0.9°C compares well with the observation-based estimate of 0.76 ± 0.19°C. The RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios respectively yield warmings of 1.4, 2.3, and 4.9°C and cumulative diagnosed fossil fuel emissions of 182, 643 and 1617 Pg C over the 2006–2100 period. The simulated warming of 2.3°C over the 1850–2100 period in the RCP 2.6 scenario, with the lowest concentration of GHGs, is slightly larger than the 2°C warming target set to avoid dangerous climate change by the 2009 UN Copenhagen Accord. The results of this study suggest that limiting warming to roughly 2°C by the end of this century is unlikely since it requires an immediate ramp down of emissions followed by ongoing carbon sequestration in the second half of this century.

The global carbon cycle in the Canadian Earth system model (CanESM1): Preindustrial control simulation

[1]xa0The preindustrial carbon cycle is described for the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis Earth system model (CanESM1). The interhemispheric gradient of surface atmospheric CO2 concentration (xCO2) is reversed from the present day, with higher concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere, and southward interhemispheric transport by the ocean, estimated at 0.38 Pg C yr−1. The seasonal cycles of xCO2 and surface CO2 exchange are dominated by Northern Hemisphere terrestrial processes; the ocean contribution to CO2 flux is in phase with the larger terrestrial flux in the tropics and out of phase in the extratropics. Ocean processes dominate the relatively small Southern Hemisphere variability. Interannual variability of land carbon exchange is much larger than ocean exchange; both are comparable to results from previously published models with possibly larger variability in the terrestrial flux. Terrestrial net primary production (NPP) is determined largely by water availability at low latitudes, with temperature becoming more important at high latitudes. Temperature and moisture affect both NPP and heterotrophic respiration such that respiration effects tend to dampen the effect of fluctuations in NPP on CO2 exchange. Ocean CO2 flux variability is controlled by a variety of physical and biological processes with greater control by physical processes in the tropics and a larger biological contribution in the extratropics. Ocean CO2 flux is more strongly correlated with tropical sea surface temperature (SST) than terrestrial, but the variance associated with tropical SST is larger on land, in absolute terms, because of the much greater total variance of the land carbon flux. A novel hypothesis is advanced to explain how biological drawdown can cause recently upwelled water to be a net sink rather than source for atmospheric CO2. This process occurs over large areas of extratropical ocean and forms a natural sink for atmospheric CO2 that is potentially sensitive to both ocean acidification and anthropogenic perturbations of the aeolian iron flux.

Signal‐to‐noise ratios of observed monthly tropical ocean color

[1]xa0Five years of chlorophyll concentrations provided by the SeaWiFS sensor are analyzed to calculate the interannual and total signal-to-noise ratios in the tropical oceans. The signal-to-noise ratios are used to compare the variance of the monthly concentrations against the variance of unresolved spatio-temporal processes. The results show that at 1° × 1° resolution, variance associated to unresolved processes is as large as the interannual variance in large areas of the tropical oceans, with the exception of the equatorial Pacific. These large errors make it difficult to extract information from the assimilation of five years of interannual anomalies into biogeochemical models in large areas of the tropical oceans. Improvements obtained by using a 1/2° × 1/2° grid are limited to regions of strong small-scale variability, such as western boundary currents or coastal upwelling. The results also indicate that five years of SeaWiFS data provide potentially useful information about the annual cycle in most regions of the tropical oceans.