Future Climate Change under SSP Emission Scenarios with GISS-E2.1

Abstract This paper presents the response to anthropogenic forcing in the GISS-E2.1 climate models for the 21st century Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) emission scenarios within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6). The experiments were performed using an updated and improved version of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) coupled general circulation model that includes two different versions for atmospheric composition: a non-interactive version (NINT) with prescribed composition and a tuned aerosol indirect effect (AIE) and the One-Moment Aerosol model (OMA) version with fully interactive aerosols which includes a parameterized first indirect aerosol effect on clouds. The effective climate sensitivities are 3.0ºC and 2.9ºC for the NINT and OMA models, respectively. Each atmospheric version is coupled to two different ocean general circulation models: the GISS ocean model (E2.1-G) and HYCOM (E2.1-H). We describe the global mean responses for all future scenarios and spatial patterns of change for surface air temperature and precipitation for four of the marker scenarios: SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP4-6.0, and SSP5-8.5. By 2100, global mean warming ranges from 1.5ºC to 5.2ºC relative to 1850-1880 mean temperature. Two high-mitigation scenarios SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6 limit the surface warming to below 2°C by the end of the 21st century, except for the NINT E2.1-H model that simulates 2.2°C of surface warming. For the high emission scenario SSP5-8.5, the range is 4.6-5.2ºC at 2100. Due to about 15\% larger effective climate sensitivity (ECS) and stronger transient climate response (TCR) in both NINT and OMA CMIP6 models compared to CMIP5 versions, there is a stronger warming by 2100 in the SSP emission scenarios than in the comparable RCP scenarios in CMIP5. Changes in sea ice area are highly correlated to global mean surface air temperature anomalies and show steep declines in both hemispheres, with the largest sea ice area decreases occurring during September in the Northern Hemisphere in both E2.1-G (-1.21×106 km2/°C) and E2.1-H models (-0.94×106 km2/°C). Both coupled models project decreases in the Atlantic overturning stream function by 2100. The largest decrease of 56-65\% in the 21st century overturning stream function is produced in the warmest scenario SSP5-8.5 in the E2.1-G model, comparable to the reduction in the corresponding CMIP5 GISS-E2 RCP8.5 simulation. Both low-end scenarios SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6 also simulate substantial reductions of the overturning (9-37\%) with slow recovery of about 10\% by the end of the 21st century (relative to the maximum decrease at the middle of the 21st century)Development of GISS-E2.1 was supported by the NASA Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) Program. CMIP6 simulations with GISS-E2.1 were made possible by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. We thank Ellen Salmon and the NCCS staff for hosting and providing convenient access to the model output. CMIP6 standard variables analyzed in this study are available through the Earth System Grid Federation and from https://portal.nccs.nasa.gov/datashare/giss_cmip6.Peer Reviewed"Article signat per 46 autors/es: Larissa S. Nazarenko, Nick Tausnev, Gary L. Russell, David Rind, Ron L. Miller, Gavin A. Schmidt, Susanne E. Bauer, Maxwell Kelley, Reto Ruedy, Andrew S. Ackerman, Igor Aleinov, Michael Bauer, Rainer Bleck, Vittorio Canuto, Grégory Cesana, Ye Cheng, Thomas L. Clune, Ben I. Cook, Carlos A. Cruz, Anthony D. Del Genio, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Greg Faluvegi, Nancy Y. Kiang, Daehyun Kim, Andrew A. Lacis, Anthony Leboissetier, Allegra N. LeGrande, Ken K. Lo, John Marshall, Elaine E. Matthews, Sonali McDermid, Keren Mezuman, Lee T. Murray, Valdar Oinas, Clara Orbe, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Jan P. Perlwitz, Michael J. Puma, Anastasia Romanou, Drew T. Shindell, Shan Sun, Kostas Tsigaridis, George Tselioudis, Ensheng Weng, Jingbo Wu, Mao-Sung Yao "Postprint (author's final draft

Interactive ozone and methane chemistry in GISS-E2 historical and future climate simulations

The new generation GISS climate model includes fully interactive chemistry related to ozone in historical and future simulations, and interactive methane in future simulations. Evaluation of ozone, its tropospheric precursors, and methane shows that the model captures much of the largescale spatial structure seen in recent observations. While the model is much improved compared with the previous chemistry-climate model, especially for ozone seasonality in the stratosphere, there is still slightly too rapid stratospheric circulation, too little stratosphere-to-troposphere ozone flux in the Southern Hemisphere and an Antarctic ozone hole that is too large and persists too long. Quantitative metrics of spatial and temporal correlations with satellite datasets as well as spatial autocorrelation to examine transport and mixing are presented to document improvements in model skill and provide a benchmark for future evaluations. The difference in radiative forcing (RF) calculated using modeled tropospheric ozone versus tropospheric ozone observed by TES is only 0.016Wm⁻². Historical 20th Century simulations show a steady increase in whole atmosphere ozone RF through 1970 after which there is a decrease through 2000 due to stratospheric ozone depletion. Ozone forcing increases throughout the 21st century under RCP8.5 owing to a projected recovery of stratospheric ozone depletion and increases in methane, but decreases under RCP4.5 and 2.6 due to reductions in emissions of other ozone precursors. RF from methane is 0.05 to 0.18Wm⁻² higher in our model calculations than in the RCP RF estimates. The surface temperature response to ozone through 1970 follows the increase in forcing due to tropospheric ozone. After that time, surface temperatures decrease as ozone RF declines due to stratospheric depletion. The stratospheric ozone depletion also induces substantial changes in surface winds and the Southern Ocean circulation, which may play a role in a slightly stronger response per unit forcing during later decades. Tropical precipitation shifts south during boreal summer from 1850 to 1970, but then shifts northward from 1970 to 2000, following upper tropospheric temperature gradients more strongly than those at the surfac

Divergent Regional Climate Consequences of Maintaining Current Irrigation Rates in the 21st Century

There is strong evidence that the expansion and intensification of irrigation over the twentieth century has affected climate in many regions. However, it remains uncertain if these irrigation effects, including buffered warming trends, will weaken or persist under future climate change conditions. Using a 20-member climate model ensemble simulation, we demonstrate that irrigation will continue to attenuate greenhouse gas-forced warming and soil moisture drying in many regions over the 21st century, including Mexico, the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia, and China. Notably, this occurs without any further expansion or intensification of irrigation beyond current levels, even while greenhouse gas forcing steadily increases. However, the magnitude and significance of these moderating irrigation effects vary across regions and are highly sensitive to the background climate state and the degree to which evapotranspiration is supply (moisture) versus demand (energy) limited. Further, limitations on water and land availability may restrict our ability to maintain modern irrigation rates into the future. Nevertheless, it is likely that irrigation, alongside other components of intensive land management, will continue to strongly modulate regional climate impacts in the future. Irrigation should therefore be considered in conjunction with other key regional anthropogenic forcings (e.g., land cover change and aerosols) when investigating the local manifestation of global climate drivers (e.g., greenhouse gases) in model projections

Global warming in the pipeline

Improved knowledge of glacial-to-interglacial global temperature change implies that fast-feedback equilibrium climate sensitivity is at least ~4{\deg}C for doubled CO2 (2xCO2), with likely range 3.5-5.5{\deg}C. Greenhouse gas (GHG) climate forcing is 4.1 W/m2 larger in 2021 than in 1750, equivalent to 2xCO2 forcing. Global warming in the pipeline is greater than prior estimates. Eventual global warming due to today's GHG forcing alone -- after slow feedbacks operate -- is about 10{\deg}C. Human-made aerosols are a major climate forcing, mainly via their effect on clouds. We infer from paleoclimate data that aerosol cooling offset GHG warming for several millennia as civilization developed. A hinge-point in global warming occurred in 1970 as increased GHG warming outpaced aerosol cooling, leading to global warming of 0.18{\deg}C per decade. Aerosol cooling is larger than estimated in the current IPCC report, but it has declined since 2010 because of aerosol reductions in China and shipping. Without unprecedented global actions to reduce GHG growth, 2010 could be another hinge point, with global warming in following decades 50-100% greater than in the prior 40 years. The enormity of consequences of warming in the pipeline demands a new approach addressing legacy and future emissions. The essential requirement to "save" young people and future generations is return to Holocene-level global temperature. Three urgently required actions are: 1) a global increasing price on GHG emissions, 2) purposeful intervention to rapidly phase down present massive geoengineering of Earth's climate, and 3) renewed East-West cooperation in a way that accommodates developing world needs.Comment: 48 pages, 27 figures. Correction of formatting error on page 21, which messed up placement of all following figure

Disentangling the Regional Climate Impacts of Competing Vegetation Responses to Elevated Atmospheric CO2

Biophysical vegetation responses to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) affect regional hydroclimate through two competing mechanisms. Higher CO2 increases leaf area (LAI), thereby increasing transpiration and water losses. Simultaneously, elevated CO2 reduces stomatal conductance and transpiration, thereby increasing rootzone soil moisture. Which mechanism dominates in the future is highly uncertain, partly because these two processes are difficult to explicitly separate within dynamic vegetation models. We address this challenge by using the GISS ModelE global climate model to conduct a novel set of idealized 2×CO2 sensitivity experiments to: evaluate the total vegetation biophysical contribution to regional climate change under high CO2; and quantify the separate contributions of enhanced LAI and reduced stomatal conductance to regional hydroclimate responses. We find that increased LAI exacerbates soil moisture deficits across the sub-tropics and more water-limited regions, but also attenuates warming by ∼0.5–1°C in the US Southwest, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and northern South America. Reduced stomatal conductance effects contribute ∼1°C of summertime warming. For some regions, enhanced LAI and reduced stomatal conductance produce nonlinear and either competing or mutually amplifying hydroclimate responses. In northeastern Australia, these effects combine to exacerbate radiation-forced warming and contribute to year-round water limitation. Conversely, at higher latitudes these combined effects result in less warming than would otherwise be predicted due to nonlinear responses. These results highlight substantial regional variation in CO2-driven vegetation responses and the importance of improving model representations of these processes to better quantify regional hydroclimate impacts

Volcanic Contribution to Decadal Changes in Tropospheric Temperature

Despite continued growth in atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, global mean surface and tropospheric temperatures have shown slower warming since 1998 than previously. Possible explanations for the slow-down include internal climate variability, external cooling influences and observational errors. Several recent modelling studies have examined the contribution of early twenty-first-century volcanic eruptions to the muted surface warming. Here we present a detailed analysis of the impact of recent volcanic forcing on tropospheric temperature, based on observations as well as climate model simulations. We identify statistically significant correlations between observations of stratospheric aerosol optical depth and satellite-based estimates of both tropospheric temperature and short-wave fluxes at the top of the atmosphere. We show that climate model simulations without the effects of early twenty-first-century volcanic eruptions overestimate the tropospheric warming observed since 1998. In two simulations with more realistic volcanic influences following the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, differences between simulated and observed tropospheric temperature trends over the period 1998 to 2012 are up to 15% smaller, with large uncertainties in the magnitude of the effect. To reduce these uncertainties, better observations of eruption-specific properties of volcanic aerosols are needed, as well as improved representation of these eruption-specific properties in climate model simulations

CMIP5 Historical Simulations (1850-2012) with GISS ModelE2

Observations of climate change during the CMIP5 extended historical period (1850-2012) are compared to trends simulated by six versions of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE2 Earth System Model. The six models are constructed from three versions of the ModelE2 atmospheric general circulation model, distinguished by their treatment of atmospheric composition and the aerosol indirect effect, combined with two ocean general circulation models, HYCOM and Russell. Forcings that perturb the model climate during the historical period are described. Five-member ensemble averages from each of the six versions of ModelE2 simulate trends of surface air temperature, atmospheric temperature, sea ice and ocean heat content that are in general agreement with observed trends, although simulated warming is slightly excessive within the past decade. Only simulations that include increasing concentrations of long-lived greenhouse gases match the warming observed during the twentieth century. Differences in twentieth-century warming among the six model versions can be attributed to differences in climate sensitivity, aerosol and ozone forcing, and heat uptake by the deep ocean. Coupled models with HYCOM export less heat to the deep ocean, associated with reduced surface warming in regions of deepwater formation, but greater warming elsewhere at high latitudes along with reduced sea ice. All ensembles show twentieth-century annular trends toward reduced surface pressure at southern high latitudes and a poleward shift of the midlatitude westerlies, consistent with observations

Dangerous human-made interference with climate: a GISS modelE study

We investigate the issue of "dangerous human-made interference with climate" using simulations with GISS modelE driven by measured or estimated forcings for 1880–2003 and extended to 2100 for IPCC greenhouse gas scenarios as well as the "alternative" scenario of Hansen and Sato (2004). Identification of "dangerous" effects is partly subjective, but we find evidence that added global warming of more than 1°C above the level in 2000 has effects that may be highly disruptive. The alternative scenario, with peak added forcing ~1.5 W/m2 in 2100, keeps further global warming under 1°C if climate sensitivity is ~3°C or less for doubled CO2. The alternative scenario keeps mean regional seasonal warming within 2σ (standard deviations) of 20th century variability, but other scenarios yield regional changes of 5–10σ, i.e. mean conditions outside the range of local experience. We conclude that a CO2 level exceeding about 450 ppm is "dangerous", but reduction of non-CO2 forcings can provide modest relief on the CO2 constraint. We discuss three specific sub-global topics: Arctic climate change, tropical storm intensification, and ice sheet stability. We suggest that Arctic climate change has been driven as much by pollutants (O3, its precursor CH4, and soot) as by CO2, offering hope that dual efforts to reduce pollutants and slow CO2 growth could minimize Arctic change. Simulated recent ocean warming in the region of Atlantic hurricane formation is comparable to observations, suggesting that greenhouse gases (GHGs) may have contributed to a trend toward greater hurricane intensities. Increasing GHGs cause significant warming in our model in submarine regions of ice shelves and shallow methane hydrates, raising concern about the potential for accelerating sea level rise and future positive feedback from methane release. Growth of non-CO2 forcings has slowed in recent years, but CO2 emissions are now surging well above the alternative scenario. Prompt actions to slow CO2 emissions and decrease non-CO2 forcings are required to achieve the low forcing of the alternative scenario

Dansgaard-Oeschger events in climate models: review and baseline Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) protocol

Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events, millennial-scale climate oscillations between stadial and interstadial conditions (of up to 10-15°C in amplitude at high northern latitudes), occurred throughout the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3; 27.8-59.4ka) period. The climate modelling community up to now has not been able to answer the question of whether our climate models are too stable to simulate D-O events. To address this, this paper lays the ground-work for a MIS3 D-O protocol for general circulation models which are used in the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. We review the following: D-O terminology, community progress on simulating D-O events in these IPCC-class models (processes and published examples), and evidence about the boundary conditions under which D-O events occur. We find that no model exhibits D-O-like behaviour under pre-industrial conditions. Some, but not all, models exhibit D-O-like oscillations under MIS3 and/or full glacial conditions. Greenhouse gases and ice sheet configurations are crucial. However most models have not run simulations of long enough duration to be sure which models show D-O-like behaviour, under either MIS3 or full glacial states. We propose a MIS3 baseline protocol at 34ka, which features low obliquity values, medium to low MIS3 greenhouse gas values, and the intermediate ice sheet configuration, which our review suggests are most conducive to D-O-like behaviour in models. We also provide a protocol for a second freshwater (Heinrich-event-preconditioned) experiment, since previous work suggests that this variant may be helpful in preconditioning a state in models which is conducive to D-O events. This review provides modelling groups investigating MIS3 D-O oscillations with a common framework, which is aimed at (1) maximising the chance of the occurrence of D-O-like events in the simulations, (2) allowing more precise model-data evaluation, and (3) providing an adequate central point for modellers to explore model stability.Evan J. Gowan is funded by an international postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Bette Otto-Bliesner acknowledges funding by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement no. 1852977. Xu Zhang acknowledges funding from NSFC (no. 42075047). Matthias Prange and Ute Merkel acknowledge support from the PalMod project (http://www.palmod.de, last access: 14 April 2023; FKZ 01LP1916C), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Kira Rehfeld and Nils Weitzel acknowledge funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project no. 395588486, and the PalMod project (https://www.palmod.de/, last access: 13 October 2022), subproject no. 01LP1926C. Chuncheng Guo acknowledges funding from the Research Council of Norway under grant no. 325333 (ABRUPT).Peer reviewe

GISS‐E2.1: Configurations and Climatology

This paper describes the GISS‐E2.1 contribution to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 6 (CMIP6). This model version differs from the predecessor model (GISS‐E2) chiefly due to parameterization improvements to the atmospheric and ocean model components, while keeping atmospheric resolution the same. Model skill when compared to modern era climatologies is significantly higher than in previous versions. Additionally, updates in forcings have a material impact on the results. In particular, there have been specific improvements in representations of modes of variability (such as the Madden‐Julian Oscillation and other modes in the Pacific) and significant improvements in the simulation of the climate of the Southern Oceans, including sea ice. The effective climate sensitivity to 2 × CO2 is slightly higher than previously at 2.7–3.1°C (depending on version) and is a result of lower CO2 radiative forcing and stronger positive feedbacks.Climate modeling at GISS is supported by the NASA Modeling, Analysis and Prediction program, and resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High‐End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. We thank Ángel Adames and John Fasullo for providing figures and data from their multimodel comparisons. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers who helped improve the clarity and usefulness of the manuscript.Peer Reviewed"Article signat per 46 autors/es: Maxwell Kelley Gavin A. Schmidt Larissa S. Nazarenko Susanne E. Bauer Reto Ruedy Gary L. Russell Andrew S. Ackerman Igor Aleinov Michael Bauer Rainer Bleck Vittorio Canuto Grégory Cesana Ye Cheng Thomas L. Clune Ben I. Cook Carlos A. Cruz Anthony D. Del Genio Gregory S. Elsaesser Greg Faluvegi Nancy Y. Kiang Daehyun Kim Andrew A. Lacis Anthony Leboissetier Allegra N. LeGrande Ken K. Lo John Marshall Elaine E. Matthews Sonali McDermid Keren Mezuman Ron L. Miller Lee T. Murray Valdar Oinas Clara Orbe Carlos Pérez García‐Pando Jan P. Perlwitz Michael J. Puma David Rind Anastasia Romanou Drew T. Shindell Shan Sun Nick Tausnev Kostas Tsigaridis George Tselioudis Ensheng Weng Jingbo Wu Mao‐Sung Yao"Postprint (published version