Climate sensitivity controls global precipitation hysteresis in a changing CO2 pathway

Song, S.-Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9447-1158, Yeh, S.-W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4549-1686, Allan, R. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0264-9447, Xie, S.-P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3676-1325, An, S.-I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0003-429X and Park, H.-S. (2023) Climate sensitivity controls global precipitation hysteresis in a changing CO2 pathway. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 6. 156. ISSN 2397-3722 doi: 10.1038/s41612-023-00484-2

Abstract/Summary

The responses of the Earth’s climate system to positive and negative CO2 emissions are not identical in magnitude, resulting in hysteresis. In particular, the degree of global precipitation hysteresis varies markedly among Earth system models. Based on analysis of Earth’s energy budget, here we show that climate sensitivity controls the degree of global precipitation hysteresis. Using an idealized CO2 removal scenario, we find that the surface available energy for precipitation continues to increase during the initial negative CO2 emission period following a positive CO2 emission period, leading to a hysteresis of global precipitation. This feature is more pronounced in Earth System Models with a high climate sensitivity. Our results indicate that climate sensitivity is a key factor controlling the hysteresis behavior of global precipitation in a changing CO2 pathway. Therefore, narrowing the uncertainty of climate sensitivity helps improve the projections of the global hydrological cycle.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/113506
Identification Number/DOI	10.1038/s41612-023-00484-2
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Walker Institute Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO)
Publisher	Springer Nature
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item