Prof. Yi Huang

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University

10:00-11:30am, Oct 19, 2017

No. 319, Building 40, IAP

Radiative forcing refers to the perturbation of Earth radiation energy balance by a radiatively active agent. This concept has been mainly applied in the prediction of global mean temperature change (i.e., the extent of global warming). However, because of its strong dependency on other atmospheric variables, radiative forcing has distinctive distribution patterns even in the case of well-mixed greenhouse gases such as CO2. In this talk, I will show a few aspects of climate change that can be directly inferred from the pattern of the CO2 radiative forcing, including 1) the increase of poleward energy transport in the atmosphere and decrease in the ocean, and 2) the weakening of tropical mean circulation strengthen during global warming.