Carbon dioxide and climate impulse response functions for the computation of greenhouse gas metrics: a multi-model analysis

Abstract. The responses of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climate variables to an emission pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere are often used to compute the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Global Temperature change Potential (GTP), to characterize the response timescales of Earth System models, and to build reduced-form models. In this carbon cycle-climate model intercomparison project, which spans the full model hierarchy, we quantify responses to emission pulses of different magnitudes injected under different conditions. The CO2 response shows the known rapid decline in the first few decades followed by a millennium-scale tail. For a 100 Gt-C emission pulse added to a constant CO2 concentration of 389 ppm,…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• PU
  Princeton University
• DF
  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government

  Award: GA01101
• EC
  European Commission

  Awards: 265170, 264879
• MO
  Met Office

  Award: GA01101
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung