CONCLIMA · Constraining large-scale climate feedbacks in the Earth system using paleo data
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-07-01 → 2019-06-30
- EU contribution
- €164,653
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Constraining large-scale climate feedbacks in the Earth system using paleo data
Global warming will have a large impact on humanity’s future. However, many feedbacks between different components of the Earth system at the global scale are not well understood and thus represent some of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. Using a combined data analysis and modelling approach, the goal of CONCLIMA is to investigate past interactions between three key coupled elements in the Earth system: the continental ice sheets, global oceanic circulation and the global carbon cycle. This analysis will address open questions related to the deglaciation of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, abrupt changes in ocean circulation and global climate sensitivity, as well as provide constraints on the strength of large-scale climate feedbacks. This project will therefore lead to new insight into the physical mechanisms behind long-term climate changes and lay the foundation for more robust climate projections.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Climate change due to anthropogenic forcing is expected to have significant societal consequences. The magnitude of changes important to humanity, such as sea-level rise and global warming, will be determined by the evolution of continental and global components of the Earth system. Many large-scale feedbacks between such coupled components are not well understood, however, and thus represent some of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. Using a combined data analysis and modelling approach, this project will investigate past interactions between three key coupled elements in the Earth system: the continental ice sheets, global oceanic circulation and the global carbon cycle. Ensembles of transient simulations will be performed from the Last Glacial Maximum (~21 ka ago) to present day – a period of significant, and often abrupt, natural climate change – using the computationally efficient Earth system model of intermediate complexity CLIMBER-M3. A new ice-sheet component will be coupled to the model to be able to simultaneously simulate all major past and present ice sheets on Earth for the first time, which will allow large-scale feedbacks to be properly analysed. In parallel, an extensive database of paleoclimate proxy data from ice and sediment cores will be created to facilitate data analyses and data-model comparison. Statistical evaluation of the model simulations against the paleoclimate proxies will be used to generate probabilistic estimates of model parameters and to constrain model performance. This analysis will address open questions related to the deglaciation of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, abrupt changes in ocean circulation and global climate sensitivity, as well as provide constraints on the strength of large-scale climate feedbacks. This project will therefore lead to new insight into the physical mechanisms behind long-term climate changes and lay the foundation for more robust climate projections.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ETHNIKO KAI KAPODISTRIAKO PANEPISTIMIO ATHINON · ATHINACoordinatorGreece
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/703251
- https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20201229175325/http://www.palma-ucm.es/people/robinson/constraining-large-scale-feedbacks-in-the-climate-system-using-paleo-data-conclima/
Data: CORDIS, © European Union