Seminary - "Additional global warming caused by crossing critical thresholds within the Earth"
Nico Wunderling (PIK, Potsdam, Germany)
Tuesday, 11/Sep/2018, 2pm, BJF room 211A
Abstract:
Several large-scale elements of the cryosphere have been associated with positive feedbacks that can lead to their partial or full disintegration once a global mean temperature threshold of 1.5 to 2°C is crossed. The qualitative change to the climate system posed by the decline of these cryosphere components is expected to induce feedbacks acting on the global climate. In this talk, I will show the quantification of the first-order mean field response of the climate system to the disintegration of these cryosphere elements using the Earth system model of intermediate complexity CLIMBER-2. On top, I will also show the contribution of the main drivers responsible for the additional global warming. These drivers are the albedo, the water vapor, the lapse rate and the clouds feedback.
