IPCC Climate Change Data: ECHAM4 A2a Model: 2050 Precipitation

• Main Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity
• Subjects: climate; global climate change; precipitation; Fuller; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5063/AA/dpennington.145.3

The ECHAM climate model has been developed from the ECMWF atmospheric model (therefore the first part of its name: EC) and a comprehensive parameterisation package developed at Hamburg therefore the abbreviation HAM) which allows the model to be used for climate simulations. The model is a spectral transform model with 19 atmospheric layers and the results used here derive from experiments performed with spatial resolution T42 (which approximates to about 2.8 degrees longitude/latitude resolution). The model has also been used at resolutions in the range T21 to T106. ECHAM4 is the current generation in the line of ECHAM models (Roeckner, et al., 1992). A summary of developments regarding model physics in ECHAM4 and a description of the simulated climate obtained with the uncoupled ECHAM4 model is given in Roeckner et al. (1996). The initial sea surface temperature and sea-ice data is the COLA/CAC AMIP SST and sea-ice data set. The mean terrain heights are computed from high resolution US Navy data set. The fraction of grid area covered by vegetation based on the Wilson and Henderson-Sellers (1985) data set. The ocean albedo is a function of solar zenith angle and the land albedo from the satellite data of Geleyn and Preuss (1983). A diurnal cycle and gravity wave-drag is included. The time-step of the model is 24 minutes, except for radiation which uses two hours. The ocean model is an updated version of the isopycnal model (OPYC3) developed by Josef Oberhuber (Oberhuber, 1993) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany. The name OPYC is derived from Ocean and isoPYCnal co-ordinates. The concept to use isopycnals as the vertical co-ordinate system for an OGCM is based on the observation that the interior ocean behaves as a rather conservative fluid. Even over long distances the origin of water masses can be traced back by considering the distribution of active or passive tracers. Treating the ocean as a conservative fluid fails in areas of significant turbulence activity such as the surface boundary layer. A surface mixed-layer is therefore coupled to the interior ocean in order to represent near-surface vertical mixing and to improve the response time-scales to atmospheric forcing which is controlled by the mixed-layer thickness. Since the model is designed for studies on large scales, a sea ice model with rheology is included and serves the purpose of de-coupling the ocean from extreme high-latitude winter conditions and promotes a realistic treatment of the salinity forcing due to melting or freezing sea ice. The experiments from which results are used here are the 1000-year unforced control simulation using the coupled ECHAM4/OPYC3 model and then two climate change simulations. The greenhouse gas only forced experiment (referred to as GGa1) used historical greenhouse gas forcing from 1860 to 1990 followed by a 1 per cent annum increase in radiative forcing from 1990 to 2099. The greenhouse gas and sulphate aerosol forced experiment (referred to as GSa1) used the GGa1 forcing, plus the negative forcing due to sulphate aerosols. This was represented by means of an increase in clear-sky surface albedo proportional to the local sulphate loading. The indirect effects of aerosols were not simulated. For 1860 to 1990 the historic sulphate aerosol forcing estimate was used and for 1990 to 2049 the aerosol forcing estimated for the IS92a emissions scenario. The GSa1 experiment did not extend beyond 2049. Fuller details of the ECHAM4/OPYC3 coupled model can befound at the DDC Yellow Pages.Several papers describe results using this version of the model - see Bacher et al. (1998), Oberhuber et al. (1998), Zhang et al. (1998). The climate sensitivity of ECHAM4 is about 2.6 degrees C.The A2 world consolidates into a series of roughly continental economic regions, emphasizing local cultural roots. In some regions, increased religious participation leads many to reject a materialist path and to focus attention on contributing to the local community. Elsewhere, the trend is towards ncreased investment in education and science and growth in economic productivity. Social and political structures diversify with some regions moving towards stronger welfare systems and reduced income inequality, while others move towards "lean" government. Environmental concerns are relatively weak, although some attention is paid to bringing local pollution under control and maintaining local environmental amenities. The A2 world sees more international tensions and less cooperation than in A1 or B1. People, ideas and capital are less mobile so that technology diffuses slowly. International disparities in productivity, and hence income per capita, are maintained or increased. With the emphasis on family and community life, fertility rates decline only slowly, although they vary among regions. Hence, this scenario family has high population growth (to 15 billion by 2100) with comparatively low incomes per capita relative to the A1 andB1 worlds, at US$7,200 in 2050 and US$16,000 in 2100.Technological change is rapid in some regions and slow in others as industry adjusts to local resource endowments, culture, and education levels. Regions with abundant energy and mineral resources evolve more resource intensive economies, while those poor in resources place very high priority on minimizing import dependence through technological innovation to improve resource efficiency and make use of substitute inputs. The fuel mix in different regions is determined primarily by resource availability. And divisions among regions persist in terms of their mix of technologies, with high-income but resource-poor regions shifting toward advanced post fossil technologies (renewables in regions of large land availability, nuclear in densely populated, resource poor regions) and low-income resource-rich regions generally relying on older fossil technologies.With substantial food requirements, agricultural productivity is one of the main focus areas for innovation and RD efforts in this future. Initially high levels of soil erosion and water pollution are eventually eased through the local development of more sustainable high-yield agriculture.Although attention is given to potential local and regional environmental damage, it is not uniform across regions. For example, sulfur and particulate emissions are reduced in Asia due to impacts on human health and agricultural production but increase in Africa as a result of the intensified exploitation of coal and other mineral resources. The A2 world sees high energy and carbon intensity, and correspondingly high GHG emissions. Its CO2 emissions are the highest of all four scenario families. Data are available for the following periods: 1961-1990, 2010-2039; 2040-2069; and 2090-2099, mean and monthly change fields.