Brief communication: Solar radiation management not as effective as CO2 mitigation for Arctic sea ice loss in hitting the 1.5 and 2 °C COP climate targets

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: J. K. Ridley, E. W. Blockley
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2018
• Subjects: envir; geo; Arctic; Global warming; Sea ice; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3355-2018; https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/3355/2018/tc-12-3355-2018.pdf; https://doaj.org/article/1053b1025252439297f7ae709f732564

An assessment of the risks of a seasonally ice-free Arctic at 1.5 and 2.0 °C global warming above pre-industrial levels is undertaken using model simulations with solar radiation management to achieve the desired temperatures. An ensemble of the CMIP5 model HadGEM2-ES uses solar radiation management (SRM) to achieve the desired global mean temperatures. It is found that the risk for a seasonally ice-free Arctic is reduced for a target temperature for global warming of 1.5 °C (0.1 %) compared to 2.0 °C (42 %), in general agreement with other methodologies. The SRM produced more ice loss, for a specified global temperature, than for CO2 mitigation scenarios, as SRM produces a higher polar amplification.