Climate Model Results Relative to the Low-CO2 Climate (IMAGE)

Carnegie Institution for Science

Climate Model Results Relative to the Low-CO2 Climate

Caption

This graph shows climate model results relative to the low-CO2 climate. The left side shows results when temperature differences are minimized. The right side shows results when precipitation minus evaporation (PminusE) is minimized. The upper panel shows results for temperature and the bottom panel shows results for precipitation minus evaporation. In the model, geoengineering reduces the amount of change in both temperature and precipitation minus evaporation caused by high CO2 concentrations. Using a parabolic distribution of aerosols (more aerosols in the polar regions) slightly improves the cancellation of temperature changes but slightly degrades the ability to reverse changes in precipitation minus evaporation.

Credit

Courtesy <I>Environmental Research Letters</I>, George Ban-Weiss and Ken Caldeira

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