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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • carbon cycle feedbacks
  • future warming probability
  • climate change uncertainty

Index Terms

  • Biogeosciences: Carbon cycling
  • Global Change: Climate dynamics
  • Global Change: Earth system modeling
  • Global Change: Global climate models
  • Global Change: Impacts of global change

Abstract

Carbon-cycle feedbacks increase the likelihood of a warmer future

H. Damon Matthews

Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

David W. Keith

Energy and Environmental Systems Group, Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Positive carbon-cycle feedbacks have the potential to reduce natural carbon uptake and accelerate future climate change. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to incorporating carbon-cycle feedbacks into probabilistic assessments of future warming. Using a coupled climate-carbon model, we show that including carbon-cycle feedbacks leads to large increases in extreme warming probabilities. For example, for a scenario of CO2 stabilization at 550 ppm, the probability of exceeding 2°C warming at 2100 increased by a factor of between 1.7 and 3, while the probability of exceeding 3°C warming increased from a few percent to as much as 22%. CO2 fertilization was found to exert little influence on the amount of future warming, since increased carbon uptake was partially offset by fertilization-induced surface albedo changes. The effect of positive carbon-cycle feedbacks on the likelihood of extreme future warming must be incorporated into climate policy-related decision making.

Received 3 November 2006; accepted 29 March 2007; published 4 May 2007.

Citation: Matthews, H. D., and D. W. Keith (2007), Carbon-cycle feedbacks increase the likelihood of a warmer future, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L09702, doi:10.1029/2006GL028685.

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