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Transient climate response to changing carbon dioxide concentration

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Abstract

The time-dependent response of climate changes to changing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is modeled using an energy balance atmospheric model coupled to a one-dimensional upwelling diffusion model of the deep ocean. Such a model introduces time delays so that the calculated globally-averaged temperature lags that which would be predicted by assuming radiative equilibrium. The climate model is coupled to a simple carbon cycle model and a ‘social’ model that simulates decreasing emission in response to increasing global temperatures. The thermal inertia of the system is such that temperatures continue to increase after carbon dioxide concentrations are decreasing.

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Consultant to BNL from New York University.

Semester Student, Fall 1979, Alcorn State College.

This research was performed under the auspices of the United States Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-76CH00016.

By acceptance of this article, the publisher and/or recipient acknowledges the U.S. Government’s right to retain a nonexclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright covering this paper.

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Michael, P., Hoffert, M., Tobias, M. et al. Transient climate response to changing carbon dioxide concentration. Climatic Change 3, 137–153 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423176

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423176

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