Climate change reduces warming potential of nitrous oxide by an enhanced Brewer‐Dobson circulation

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• 作者：Daniela Kracher ; Christian H. Reick ; Elisa Manzini ; Martin G. Schultz ; Olaf Stein
• 刊名：Geophysical Research Letters
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：16 June 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：43
• 期：11
• 页码：5851-5859
• 全文大小：646.9KB
• ISSN：1944-8007

文摘

The Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), which is an important driver of the stratosphere-troposphere exchange, is expected to accelerate with climate change. One particular consequence of this acceleration is the enhanced transport of nitrous oxide (N₂O) from its sources at the Earth's surface toward its main sink region in the stratosphere, thus inducing a reduction in its lifetime. N₂O is a potent greenhouse gas and the most relevant currently emitted ozone-depleting substance. Here we examine the implications of a reduced N₂O lifetime in the context of climate change. We find a decrease in its global warming potential (GWP) and, due to a decline in the atmospheric N₂O burden, also a reduction in its total radiative forcing. From the idealized transient global warming simulation we can identify linear regressions for N₂O sink, lifetime, and GWP with temperature rise. Our findings are thus not restricted to a particular scenario.