Publication Date:
2015-09-22
Description:
Solar Radiation Management (SRM) has been proposed as a means to partly counteract global warming. The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) has simulated the climate consequences of a number of SRM techniques. Thus far, the effects on vegetation have not yet been thoroughly analyzed. Here, the vegetation response to the idealized GeoMIP G1 experiment from eight fully coupled earth system models (ESMs) is analyzed, in which a reduction of the solar constant counterbalances the radiative effects of quadrupled atmospheric CO 2 concentrations (abrupt4xCO2). For most models and regions, changes in net primary productivity (NPP) are dominated by the increase in CO 2 , via the CO 2 fertilization effect. As SRM will reduce temperatures relative to abrupt4xCO2, in high latitudes this will offset increases in NPP. In low latitudes, this cooling relative to the abrupt4xCO2 simulation decreases plant respiration while having little effect on gross primary productivity, thus increasing NPP. In Central America and the Mediterranean, generally dry regions which are expected to experience increased water stress with global warming, NPP is highest in the G1 experiment for all models due to the easing of water limitations from increased water-use efficiency at high-CO 2 concentrations and the reduced evaporative demand in a geoengineered climate. The largest differences in the vegetation response are between models with and without a nitrogen-cycle, with a much smaller CO 2 fertilization effect for the former. These results suggest that until key vegetation processes are integrated into ESM predictions, the vegetation response to SRM will remain highly uncertain.
Print ISSN:
0148-0227
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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