Identification

Title

Net radiative forcing and air quality responses to regional CO emission reductions

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) emissions influence global and regional air quality and global climate change by affecting atmospheric oxidants and secondary species. We simulate the influence of halving anthropogenic CO emissions globally and individually from 10 regions on surface and tropospheric ozone, methane, and aerosol concentrations using a global chemical transport model (MOZART-4 for the year 2005). Net radiative forcing (RF) is then estimated using the GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) standalone radiative transfer model. We estimate that halving global CO emissions decreases global annual average concentrations of surface ozone by 0.45 ppbv, tropospheric methane by 73 ppbv, and global annual net RF by 36.1 mW m⁻², nearly equal to the sum of changes from the 10 regional reductions. Global annual net RF per unit change in emissions and the 100 yr global warming potential (GWP₁₀₀) are estimated as -0.124 mW m⁻² (Tg CO)⁻¹ and 1.34, respectively, for the global CO reduction, and ranging from −0.115 to −0.131 mW m⁻² (Tg CO)⁻¹ and 1.26 to 1.44 across 10 regions, with the greatest sensitivities for regions in the tropics. The net RF distributions show widespread cooling corresponding to the O₃ and CH₄ decreases, and localized positive and negative net RFs due to changes in aerosols. The strongest annual net RF impacts occur within the tropics (28° S-28° N) followed by the northern midlatitudes (28° N-60° N), independent of reduction region, while the greatest changes in surface CO and ozone concentrations occur within the reduction region. Some regional reductions strongly influence the air quality in other regions, such as East Asia, which has an impact on US surface ozone that is 93% of that from North America. Changes in the transport of CO and downwind ozone production clearly exceed the direct export of ozone from each reduction region. The small variation in CO GWPs among world regions suggests that future international climate agreements could adopt a globally uniform metric for CO with little error, or could use different GWPs for each continent. Doing so may increase the incentive to reduce CO through coordinated policies addressing climate and air quality.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7j67hsb

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

2013-05-29T00:00:00Z

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