Earth System Dynamics Discussions www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net 2190-4995 3 1 2012 10.5194/esdd-3-31-2012 http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/3/31/2012/ http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/3/31/2012/esdd-3-31-2012.html http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/3/31/2012/esdd-3-31-2012.pdf 31 72 2012-01-25 Can a reduction of solar irradiance counteract CO₂-induced climate change? – Results from four Earth system models H. Schmidt hauke.schmidt@zmaw.de K. Alterskjær D. Bou Karam O. Boucher A. Jones J. E. Kristjansson U. Niemeier M. Schulz A. Aaheim F. Benduhn M. Lawrence C. Timmreck Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et l'Environnement, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, UK Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway Cicero, Oslo, Norway Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany now at: Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace/CNRS, Paris, France now at: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany In this study we compare the response of four state-of-the-art Earth system models to climate engineering under scenario G1 of the GeoMIP and IMPLICC model intercomparison projects. In G1, the radiative forcing from an instantaneous quadrupling of the CO₂ concentration, starting from the preindustrial level, is balanced by a reduction of the solar constant. Model responses to the two counteracting forcings in G1 are compared to the preindustrial climate in terms of global means and regional patterns and their robustness. While the global mean surface air temperature in G1 remains almost unchanged, the meridional temperature gradient is reduced in all models compared to the control simulation. Another robust response is the global reduction of precipitation with strong effects in particular over North and South America and northern Eurasia. It is shown that this reduction is only partly compensated by a reduction in evaporation so that large continental regions are drier in the engineered climate. In comparison to the climate response to a quadrupling of CO₂ alone the temperature responses are small in experiment G1. Precipitation responses are, however, of comparable magnitude but in many regions of opposite sign. Alterskjær, K., Kristjánsson, J. 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