Identification

Title

Multimodel precipitation responses to removal of U.S. sulfur dioxide emissions

Abstract

Emissions of aerosols and their precursors are declining due to policies enacted to protect human health, yet we currently lack a full understanding of the magnitude, spatiotemporal pattern, statistical significance, and physical mechanisms of precipitation responses to aerosol reductions. We quantify the global and regional precipitation responses to U.S. SO2 emission reductions using three fully coupled chemistry-climate models: Community Earth System Model version 1, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Coupled Model 3, and Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE2. We contrast 200year (or longer) simulations in which anthropogenic U.S. sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions are set to zero with present-day control simulations to assess the aerosol, cloud, and precipitation response to U.S. SO2 reductions. In all three models, reductions in aerosol optical depth up to 70% and cloud droplet number column concentration up to 60% occur over the eastern U.S. and extend over the Atlantic Ocean. Precipitation responses occur both locally and remotely, with the models consistently showing an increase in most regions considered. We find a northward shift of the tropical rain belt location of up to 0.35 degrees latitude especially near the Sahel, where the rainy season length and intensity are significantly enhanced in two of the three models. This enhancement is the result of greater warming in the Northern versus Southern Hemispheres, which acts to shift the Intertropical Convergence Zone northward, delivering additional wet season rainfall to the Sahel. Two of our three models thus imply a previously unconsidered benefit of continued U.S. SO2 reductions for Sahel precipitation.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7qz2d4t

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-05-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact