Palaeoclimate constraints on the impact of 2 °C anthropogenic warming and beyond

Fischer, Hubertus; Meissner, Katrin J; Mix, Alan C; Abram, Nerilie J; Austermann, Jacqueline; Brovkin, Victor; Capron, Emilie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0784-1884; Colombaroli, Daniele; Daniau, Anne-Laure; Dyez, Kelsey A; Felis, Thomas; Finkelstein, Sarah A; Jaccard, Samuel L; McClymont, Erin L; Rovere, Alessio; Sutter, Johannes; Wolff, Eric W; Affolter, Stéphane; Bakker, Pepijn; Ballesteros-Cánovas, Juan Antonio; Barbante, Carlo; Caley, Thibaut; Carlson, Anders E; Churakova (Sidorova), Olga; Cortese, Giuseppe; Cumming, Brian F; Davis, Basil AS; de Vernal, Anne; Emile-Geay, Julien; Fritz, Sherilyn C; Gierz, Paul; Gottschalk, Julia; Holloway, Max ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0709-3644; Joos, Fortunat; Kucera, Michal; Loutre, Marie-France; Lunt, Daniel J; Marcisz, Katarzyna; Marlon, Jennifer R; Martinez, Philippe; Masson-Delmotte, Valerie; Nehrbass-Ahles, Christoph; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L; Raible, Christoph C; Risebrobakken, Bjørg; Sánchez Goñi, María F; Saleem Arrigo, Jennifer; Sarnthein, Michael; Sjolte, Jesper; Stocker, Thomas F; Velasquez Alvárez, Patricio A; Tinner, Willy; Valdes, Paul J; Vogel, Hendrik; Wanner, Heinz; Yan, Qing; Yu, Zicheng; Ziegler, Martin; Zhou, Liping. 2018 Palaeoclimate constraints on the impact of 2 °C anthropogenic warming and beyond. Nature Geoscience, 11. 474-485. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0146-0

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This is the author-accepted version of Fischer et al. Palaeoclimate constraints on the impact of 2 °C anthropogenic warming and beyond. Nature Geosci 11, 474–485 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0146-0
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0146-0

Abstract/Summary

Over the past 3.5 million years, there have been several intervals when climate conditions were warmer than during the preindustrial Holocene. Although past intervals of warming were forced differently than future anthropogenic change, such periods can provide insights into potential future climate impacts and ecosystem feedbacks, especially over centennial-to-millennial timescales that are often not covered by climate model simulations. Our observation-based synthesis of the understanding of past intervals with temperatures within the range of projected future warming suggests that there is a low risk of runaway greenhouse gas feedbacks for global warming of no more than 2 °C. However, substantial regional environmental impacts can occur. A global average warming of 1–2 °C with strong polar amplification has, in the past, been accompanied by significant shifts in climate zones and the spatial distribution of land and ocean ecosystems. Sustained warming at this level has also led to substantial reductions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, with sea-level increases of at least several metres on millennial timescales. Comparison of palaeo observations with climate model results suggests that, due to the lack of certain feedback processes, model-based climate projections may underestimate long-term warming in response to future radiative forcing by as much as a factor of two, and thus may also underestimate centennial-to-millennial-scale sea-level rise.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0146-0
ISSN:	17520894
Date made live:	02 Jul 2018 12:35 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/520423

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0146-0

ISSN:

17520894

Date made live:

02 Jul 2018 12:35 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/520423