Carbon Dioxide and Climate: The Importance of Realistic Geography in Estimating the Transient Temperature Response

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Thompson, Starley L., Schneider, Stephen H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1982
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.217.4564.1031; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.217.4564.1031

Results obtained from a detailed air-sea-ice climate model for an instantaneous increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide content are used to estimate the transient surface temperature response for several time-dependent carbon dioxide increase scenarios. The inclusion of realistic variations of land fraction and ocean mixing with latitude is found to limit the applicability of steady-state simulations as approximate guides to the actual time-dependent temperature response, particularly when the regional response is considered.