Investigating the role of stratospheric ozone as a driver of inter-model spread in CO 2 effective radiative forcing
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: . Addressing the cause of inter-model spread in carbon dioxide (CO2) radiative forcing is essential for reducing uncertainty in estimates of climate sensitivity. Recent studies demonstrate that a large proportion of this spread arises from variance in model base state climatology, particularly the specification of stratospheric temperature, which itself plays a dominant role in determining the magnitude of CO2 forcing. Here we investigate stratospheric ozone (O3) as a cause of inter-model differences in stratospheric temperature, and hence its role as a contributing factor to spread in CO2 radiative forcing. We use the Norwegian Earth System Model 2 (NorESM2) to analyse the impact of systematic increases/decreases in stratospheric O3 on the magnitude of 4xCO2 effective radiative forcing (ERF) and its components. Firstly, we demonstrate that accurate estimation of instantaneous radiative forcing requires the use of host-model radiative transfer calculations. Secondly, we show that a 50 % increase and decrease in stratospheric O3 concentration leads to significant differences in base state stratospheric temperature, ranging from +6 K to -9 K, respectively. However, this does not result in a correspondingly large spread in CO2 ERF due to the impact of base-state stratospheric temperature on the emission of outgoing longwave radiation and the spectral overlap of CO2 and O3. We conclude that inter-model differences in stratospheric O3 concentration are therefore not predominantly responsible for inter-model spread in CO2 ERF.
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,725
Funders: European Commission, Horizon 2020
OpenAlex ID: W4411220661