
NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | June 16, 2014 |
Latest Amendment Date: | June 16, 2014 |
Award Number: | 1418411 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Gregory Anderson
greander@nsf.gov (703)292-4693 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | October 1, 2014 |
End Date: | September 30, 2020 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $300,598.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $300,598.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3090 CENTER GREEN DR BOULDER CO US 80301-2252 (303)497-1000 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
1850 Table Mesa Drive Boulder CO US 80305-5602 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | ARCSS-Arctic System Science |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The Arctic is currently warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. This so-called Arctic Amplification of surface temperatures is well documented; however, the various feedback mechanisms and how they co-operate to amplify arctic temperatures remain uncertain. Important clues for solving some of these fundamental climate questions regarding arctic amplification may be found during the Pliocene (2.6 to 5.3 million years ago), which is the last time in Earth's history when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were comparable to modern concentrations of about 400 ppm, and yet arctic temperatures were 10 to 20 degrees C warmer.
This project investigates the interactions among terrestrial feedback mechanisms during the Pliocene and their role in amplifying arctic surface temperatures. In particular, it investigates the net radiative forcing of vegetation albedo, atmospheric water vapor, and black carbon emitted from fire on the arctic climate system. This will be accomplished by conducting high-resolution reconstructions of past temperatures, atmospheric CO2, and fire for three high arctic sites that have been recently well-dated by terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides. To disentangle how these processes may have been interacting to amplify arctic temperatures, a series of climate experiments will be conducted using the Community Earth System Model.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Past warm states are important proving grounds for models that are to be used for projections of future global and regional climate. Thus, from a policy perspective, realistic simulation of previous warm periods lends confidence to assessments of future changes. In this project, we explored how the radiative forcings and feedback mechanisms may have resulted in much warmer global and Arctic climate conditions during Earth?s Pliocene period approximately 3 million years ago. Climate models being developed for modern and applied for scenarios in the future have not previously been able to reproduce the warm conditions indicated in the data for this period. What we discovered is that the enhanced global mean warming arises from enhanced Earth System Sensitivity with equal contributions from atmospheric carbon dioxide change and changes in boundary conditions - primarily from vegetation and ice sheets. Our climate model experiments also revealed that changes in paleogeography, relatively small from modern, affect the ocean circulation in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and Arctic sea ice in such a way as to enhance Arctic warming. These results highlight the importance of using past climates to inform the development of complex models such as the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2).
Last Modified: 12/26/2020
Modified by: Bette Otto-Bliesner
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