Carbon Cycle and Climate Sensitivity in an Earth System Model

The sensitivity of the potential feedbacks between climate and biogeochemical cycles (BGC) is adressed with the help of LOVECLIM, a global three-dimensional Earth system model of intermediate complexity. Key physical or biogeochemical parameters of LOVECLIM are varied within their range of uncertainty in order to provide an ensemble of parameter sets resulting in contrasted climate and global carbon cycle sensitivities. The selected climate parameter sets lead to a climate sensitivity ranging from 2 to 4°C and a reduction of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) ranging from 20 to 60% after 1 kyr in response to identical external forcings. The key parameters for the carbon cycle were chosen among those with the largest impact on the marine biogeochemical cycle and on the response of atmospheric CO2 to emission scenario. We then analyze the results of freshwater hosing experiments in which both the climate parameters and the BGC parameters are modified. These experiments allow to examine the impact of changes in climate sensitivity and of MOC reduction over the biogeochemical cycles as well as to assess the potential feedback from the carbon cycle onto the climate. A decreasing MOC directly impacts the ocean biogeochemistry. Most of the model setups show a decline in export production although some parameter sets yield reorganisation of the large scale ocean circulation, which leads to different behaviour of the ocean biogeochemistry. The atmospheric carbon is also affected by a decrease of the MOC. While most parameter sets cause a modest increase in atmospheric CO2, consecutive to the decrease of the continental vegetation, some model versions exhibit an amplification of the atmospheric CO2 response to the forcing. The mechanisms leading to the different responses for the different parameter sets are examined and discussed.