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Differences in the efficacy of climate forcings explained by variations in atmospheric boundary layer depth

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  • Richard Davy

    (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research)

  • Igor Esau

    (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research)

Abstract

The Earth has warmed in the last century and a large component of that warming has been attributed to increased anthropogenic greenhouse gases. There are also numerous processes that introduce strong, regionalized variations to the overall warming trend. However, the ability of a forcing to change the surface air temperature depends on its spatial and temporal distribution. Here we show that the efficacy of a forcing is determined by the effective heat capacity of the atmosphere, which in cold and dry climates is defined by the depth of the planetary boundary layer. This can vary by an order of magnitude on different temporal and spatial scales, and so we get a strongly amplified temperature response in shallow boundary layers. This must be accounted for to assess the efficacy of a climate forcing, and also implies that multiple climate forcings cannot be linearly combined to determine the temperature response.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Davy & Igor Esau, 2016. "Differences in the efficacy of climate forcings explained by variations in atmospheric boundary layer depth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11690
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11690
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    Cited by:

    1. Davy, Richard & Gnatiuk, Natalia & Pettersson, Lasse & Bobylev, Leonid, 2018. "Climate change impacts on wind energy potential in the European domain with a focus on the Black Sea," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 1652-1659.
    2. Zhao, Yi & Li, Ruibin & Feng, Lu & Wu, Yan & Niu, Jianlei & Gao, Naiping, 2022. "Boundary layer wind tunnel tests of outdoor airflow field around urban buildings: A review of methods and status," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

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