ModelE Climate Simulations
Efficacy of Climate Forcings
These webpages present data products related to the journal article "Efficacy of climate forcings" by Hansen et al. (2005).
Maps, graphs and numerical data for many climate diagnostic quantities are provided from the large number of climate simulations that were made for that paper. The available data include the climate responses to each of the forcings for fixed SST simulations ("Fixed SST Response") as well as for the interactive coupled atmosphere-ocean model ("100-Year Response"). For convenience of reference, the data are organized here along the lines of the four tables in the paper.
To view maps and profiles, begin by selecting "Plots" from one of the following groups.
Table 1: Forcings and Responses for Greenhouse Gases | Plots | Table PDF |
Table 2: Forcings and Responses for Aerosols | Plots | Table PDF |
Table 3: Forcings and Responses for Solar Irradiance, etc. | Plots | Table PDF |
Table 4: 1880→2000 forcings in GISS model (described here) | Plots | Table PDF |
(Note: PDF documents require a special viewer such as the free Adobe Reader.)
In the tables and plots:
- "Fixed SST Responses" are the changes from current conditions averaged over a 90-year period (years 11-100) caused by the indicated forcing agent.
- "100-Year Response" refers to the change from current conditions averaged over a 40-year period (years 81-120) calculated by the model after addition of the indicated forcing agent.
- "Fi", the instantaneous forcing, is the radiative flux change at the tropopause after the forcing agent is introduced.
- "Fa", the adjusted forcing, is the flux change at the top of the atmosphere (and throughout the stratosphere) after the stratosphere is allowed to adjust radiatively to the presence of the forcing agent.
- "Fs", the fixed SST forcing, is a combination of the flux change at the top of (and throughout) the atmosphere and of the global surface air temperature change after the forcing and with observed sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice (SI) held fixed.
See the model forcing pages for a more detailed description of these forcings.
Table 1. Forcings and Responses for Greenhouse Gas Experiments
Table 2. Aerosol forcings and responses
Forcing Mechanism | Fi(W/m2) | Fa(W/m2) | Fs(W/m2) | Fixed SST Response | 100-yr Response | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stratospheric aerosols | |||||||
1/3 × Pinatubo aerosols | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Pinatubo aerosols | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | — | — | |
2 | Combinations of tropospheric aerosols (Direct Effects) | |||||||
trop.aeros 1850->1997 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | — | — | |
trop.aeros 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
trop.aeros 1850->2000 (E3) | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
refl. aerosols 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
black carbon, 2 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
3 | Individual tropospheric aerosols (Direct Effects) | |||||||
sulfates, 2 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
nitrates, 5 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
OCIndustr, 6 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
OCIndustr, 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | — | — | |
OCBiomass, 6 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
OCBiomass, 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | — | — | |
BCIndustr, 2 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
BCIndustr, 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | — | — | |
BCBiomass, 6 × 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
BCBiomass, 1850->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | — | — | |
4 | Impact of vertical profile for black carbons | |||||||
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 1 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 2 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 3 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 4 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 5 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 6 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 7 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Unif.BlackCarbon->layer 8 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 × dBCI->layer 2 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 × dBCI->layer 5 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 × dBCB->layer 2 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 × dBCB->layer 5 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
5 | Time independent aerosols | |||||||
sea salt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
desert dust | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
6 | Indirect effects | |||||||
Direct+AIEalb | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
AerosIndEff_CldAlb | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Direct+AIEcc | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
AerosIndEff_CldCvr | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt |
Table 3. Miscellaneous forcings and their response
Forcing Mechanism | Fi(W/m2) | Fa(W/m2) | Fs(W/m2) | Fixed SST Response | 100-yr Response | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Contrails | |||||||
10 × Contrail | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 | Solar Irradiance | |||||||
0.8 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
0.9 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
0.95 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
0.98 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
1.02 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
1.05 × solar irrad. | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
sol.irrad. 1880->2000,Lean | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Sol.irrad. 4 × 1880->2000,Lean | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt |
Table 4. Climate forcing agents employed in transient simulations
Forcing Mechanism | Fi(W/m2) | Fa(W/m2) | Fs(W/m2) | Fixed SST Response | 100-yr Response | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Individual forcings | |||||||
CO2,CH4,N2O,CFC 1880->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
CH4 oxidation 1880->2000 | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
ozone 1880->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Land Use 1880->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
BC Snow alb reduc none->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
Sol.irrad. 4 × 1880->2000,Lean | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
1/3 × Pinatubo aerosols | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
trop.aeros 1880->2000 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | — | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
trop.aeros 1880->1997 | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | — | — | |
Direct+AIEcc 1880->2000 | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
2 | Combined forcings | |||||||
All forcings 1880->2000 | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | |
All forcs,enh SnoAlb 1880->2000 | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | — | — | |
ocean 1880->1990 | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | — | — | |
All forc. 1880->2000,1990 ocn | — | — | Lat-Lon | Lat-Lon | Lat-Hgt | — | — |
Reference
Hansen, J., Mki. Sato, R. Ruedy, L. Nazarenko, A. Lacis, G.A. Schmidt, G. Russell, I. Aleinov, M. Bauer, SS. Bauer, N. Bell, B. Cairns, V. Canuto, M. Chandler, Y. Cheng, A. Del Genio, G. Faluvegi, E. Fleming, A. Friend, T. Hall, C. Jackman, M. Kelley, N. Kiang, D. Koch, J. Lean, J. Lerner, K. Lo, S. Menon, R. Miller, P. Minnis, T. Novakov, V. Oinas, Ja. Perlwitz, Ju. Perlwitz, D. Rind, A. Romanou, D. Shindell, P. Stone, S. Sun, N. Tausnev, D. Thresher, B. Wielicki, T. Wong, M. Yao, and S. Zhang 2005. Efficacy of climate forcings. J. Geophys. Res. 110, D18104, doi:10.1029/2005JD005776.
Contact
Please address questions about these "Efficacy" webpages to Dr. Reto Ruedy.
Also participating in this research were Drs. James E. Hansen, Makiko Sato and Larissa Nazarenko.