On the Linearity of External Forcing Response in Solar Geoengineering
Experiments
Abstract
To assess impacts of solar geoengineering, the GeoMIP G1 experiment
forces Earth System Models with prescribed reductions in solar radiation
to balance increases in atmospheric CO2. One key source
of uncertainty is the magnitude of solar constant reduction required to
offset a CO2 quadrupling. Here, we decompose the G1
experiment in the Community Earth System Model with solar only and
CO2 only forcing experiments to quantify single forcing
rapid radiative adjustments. We find that radiative adjustments to both
single forcings have a net positive effect on top of atmosphere energy
balance such that they both increase the net G1 forcing. Stratospheric
temperature and shortwave cloud adjustments are the main sources of
positive adjustment in both Solar and CO2 scenarios. We
also show that net G1 radiative adjustment cannot be represented
linearly with CO2 and solar forcing adjustments, which is primarily
traced to further reductions in boundary layer clouds.