Jm. Haywood et al., TRANSIENT-RESPONSE OF A COUPLED MODEL TO ESTIMATED CHANGES IN GREENHOUSE-GAS AND SULFATE CONCENTRATIONS, Geophysical research letters, 24(11), 1997, pp. 1335-1338
This study investigates changes in surface air temperature (SAT), hydr
ology and the thermohaline circulation due to the the radiative forcin
g of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and the direct radiative forcing (
DRF) of sulfate aerosols in the GFDL coupled ocean-atmosphere model. T
hree 300-year model integrations are performed with increasing greenho
use gas concentrations only, increasing sulfate aerosol concentrations
only and increasing greenhouse gas and sulfate aerosol concentrations
. A control integration is also performed keeping concentrations of su
lfate and carbon dioxide fixed. The global annual mean SAT change when
both greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols are included is in better
agreement with observations than when greenhouse gases alone are inclu
ded. When the global annual mean SAT change from a model integration t
hat includes only increases in greenhouse gases is added to that from
a model integration that includes only increases in sulfate, the resul
ting global SAT change is approximately equal to that from a model int
egration that includes increases in both greenhouse gases and sulfate
aerosol throughout the integration period. Similar results are found f
or global annual mean precipitation changes and for the geographical d
istribution of both SAT and precipitation changes indicating that the
climate response is linearly additive for the two types of forcing con
sidered here. Changes in the mid-continental summer dryness and thermo
haline circulation are also briefly discussed.