Study on Physical Mechanism of Influence on Atmospheric Boundary Layer Depth in the Arid Regions of Northwest China

Using the sounding data of wind, temperature, and humidity in the boundary layer and micrometeorological data on the earth's surface observed in the same period in Dunhuang arid region of Northwest China,this paper researches characteristics of potential temperature, wind, and humidity profiles, confirms the structure and depth of thermodynamic boundary layer in Dunhuang region, and analyzses the relationship of depth of thermodynamic boundary layer with surface radiation, buoyancy flux as well as wind speed and wind direction shear in the boundary layer. The results show that the maximum depth of diurnal convective boundary layer is basically above 2000 m during the observational period, many times even in excess of 3000 m and sometimes up to 4000 m; the depth of nocturnal stable boundary layer basically maintains within a range of 1000-1500 m. As a whole, the depth of atmospheric boundary layer is obviously bigger than those results observed in other regions before. By analyzing, a preliminary judgement is that the depth of atmospheric thermodynamic boundary layer in Dunhuang region may relate to local especial radiation characteristics, surface properties (soil moisture content and heat capacity) as well as wind velocity shear of boundary layer, and these properties have formed strong buoyancy flux and dynamic forcing in a local region which are fundamental causes for producing a super deep atmospheric boundary layer.     

A study of multiple stable layers in the nocturnal lower atmosphere

The structure of nocturnal inversions in the first 300 m of the atmosphere is analyzed using observational data from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (BAO) from March through June 1981. The temperature profiles show more than one inversion layer 41% of the time during the observational period. The vertical distributions of wind speed and moisture also show evidence of stratification during these multiple-layer events. The relation between the radiative cooling rate in time and height, including moisture, and the vertical structure of the multiple layers is calculated. The vertical distribution of eddy kinetic energy and the turbulent vertical fluxes of heat and momentum are also calculated. Turbulent structure in the elevated inversion layers is more complicated than that in the single-layer, stable nocturnal boundary layer. The total heat budget for a multiple-layer case is calculated, and turbulent cooling is found to be negligible relative to radiative cooling and to horizontal advection and/or horizontal divergence of heat flux.     

Simulation of the radiative effect of black carbon aerosols and the regional climate responses over China

As part of the development work of the Chinese new regional climate model (RIEMS), the radiative process of black carbon (BC) aerosols has been introduced into the original radiative procedures of RIEMS,and the transport model of BC aerosols has also been established and combined with the RIEMS model.Using the new model system, the distribution of black carbon aerosols and their radiative effect over the China region are investigated. The influences of BC aerosole on the atmospheric radiative transfer and on the air temperature, land surface temperature, and total rainfall are analyzed. It is found that BC aerosols induce a positive radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), which is dominated by shortwave radiative forcing. The maximum radiative forcing occurs in North China in July and in South China in April. At the same time, negative radiative forcing is observed on the surface. Based on the radiative forcing comparison between clear sky and cloudy sky, it is found that cloud can enforce the TOA positive radiative forcing and decrease the negative surface radiative forcing. The responses of the climate system in July to the radiative forcing due to BC aerosols are the decrease in the air temperature in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River and Huaihe area and most areas of South China, and the weak increase or decrease in air temperature over North China. The total rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River area is increased, but it decreased in North China in July.     

北京地区夏季边界层结构日变化的高分辨模拟对比

使用WRF中尺度数值模式, 分别选用两种不同的边界层参数化方案 (MYJ, YSU) 和3种陆面参数化方案 (SLAB, Noah, RUC), 对2004年7月1日08:00—7月4日20:00 (北京时) 北京地区夏季边界层结构进行1 km的高分辨模拟。对比分析了近地面层风场、温度场以及边界层的日变化特征, 结果发现:WRF模式基本模拟出了北京夏季边界层的日变化特征; 在边界层方案中, MYJ方案描述的边界层结构较YSU方案合理; Noah陆面模式较好地反映了城市的热岛效应; 无降水时, 风速及边界层高度对于陆面过程不敏感, 而降水发生后, 陆面过程对于边界层结构的影响增大; 各方案模拟的城区风速明显偏大, 这是因为没有充分考虑城市建筑物的阻力作用。     

The role of ENSO in global ocean temperature changes during 1955–2011 simulated with a 1D climate model

Global average ocean temperature variations to 2,000 m depth during 1955–2011 are simulated with a 40 layer 1D forcing-feedback-mixing model for three forcing cases. The first case uses standard anthropogenic and volcanic external radiative forcings. The second adds non-radiative internal forcing (ocean mixing changes initiated in the top 200 m) proportional to the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) to represent an internal mode of natural variability. The third case further adds ENSO-related radiative forcing proportional to MEI as a possible natural cloud forcing mechanism associated with atmospheric circulation changes. The model adjustable parameters are net radiative feedback, effective diffusivities, and internal radiative (e.g., cloud) and non-radiative (ocean mixing) forcing coefficients at adjustable time lags. Model output is compared to Levitus ocean temperature changes in 50 m layers during 1955–2011 to 700 m depth, and to lag regression coefficients between satellite radiative flux variations and sea surface temperature between 2000 and 2010. A net feedback parameter of 1.7Wm^?2 K^?1 with only anthropogenic and volcanic forcings increases to 2.8Wm^?2 K^?1 when all ENSO forcings (which are one-third radiative) are included, along with better agreement between model and observations. The results suggest ENSO can influence multi-decadal temperature trends, and that internal radiative forcing of the climate system affects the diagnosis of feedbacks. Also, the relatively small differences in model ocean warming associated with the three cases suggests that the observed levels of ocean warming since the 1950s is not a very strong constraint on our estimates of climate sensitivity.     

On long range dependence in global surface temperature series

Long Range Dependence (LRD) scaling behavior has been argued to characterize long-term surface temperature time series. LRD is typically measured by the so-called “Hurst” coefficient, “H”. Using synthetic temperature time series generated by a simple climate model with known physics, I demonstrate that the values of H obtained for observational temperature time series can be understood in terms of the linear response to past estimated natural and anthropogenic external radiative forcing combined with the effects of random white noise weather forcing. The precise value of H is seen to depend on the particular noise realization. The overall distribution obtained over an ensemble of noise realizations is seen to be a function of the relative amplitude of external forcing and internal stochastic variability and additionally in climate “proxy” records, the amount of non-climatic noise present. There is no obvious reason to appeal to more exotic physics for an explanation of the apparent scaling behavior in observed temperature data.     

Nowcasting precipitation, clouds, and surface state in winter

Freezing of rainwater on a surface is often caused by nocturnal clearing after precipitation, which goes along with radiative cooling. Forecasting cloudiness, and especially the risk of clearing, on a scale of 1 to 3 h is of interest in the domains of road weather, agriculture, or water management.Cloud amount and the difference between air and surface temperature are important parameters of the radiation balance. In this contribution, we show the relationship between them, proved at several stations all over Switzerland. We found a correlation coefficient of 0.88 and improved it considering other meteorological parameters like wind speed. We conclude that temperature difference is a signature for nocturnal cloudiness.We investigated nocturnal cloudiness for a case from winter 2001/02 in northern Switzerland. An ultra-dense combination of two networks with 70 stations in total is operated, measuring air and surface temperature, wind and other parameters. With the aid of our equations, these measurements where converted into cloud maps, including also precipitation seen by radar. We identified a frontal precipitation area, postfrontal clearing, freezing, and the first clouds of a following frontal passage.All these findings will contribute to a better observation and predictability of surface state and other risks connected with radiative cooling.     

Steady-state characteristics of inversions capping a well-mixed planetary boundary layer

The type of inversion discussed in this paper is essentially defined by subsidence, mixing due to thermally generated turbulent energy and a radiative flux difference at the inversion. A concept similar to that of Lilly (1968) is applied, assuming a well-mixed layer below the inversion and including advective and radiative processes.The characteristics of the inversion and of the whole PBL (e.g., height of inversion, height of cloud base, strength of inversion, flux-profiles) are investigated for their dependence on external parameters such as horizontal wind field divergence, advection, surface temperature excess, wind speed and surface temperature. This is done for steady-state conditions and gives considerable insight into the processes maintaining the type of inversion under consideration.A second goal is to present typical inversion structures, which can be found in certain climatic regions. The profiles of the state parameters and the energy-fluxes for the Trade-Wind region, the cold water area off the west-coast of California, the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean differ considerably.     

Midlatitude unstable air-sea interaction with atmospheric transient eddy dynamical forcing in an analytical coupled model

While recent observational studies have shown the critical role of atmospheric transient eddy (TE) activities in midlatitude unstable air-sea interaction, there is still a lack of a theoretical framework characterizing such an interaction. In this study, an analytical coupled air-sea model with inclusion of the TE dynamical forcing is developed to investigate the role of such a forcing in midlatitude unstable air-sea interaction. In this model, the atmosphere is governed by a barotropic quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equation forced by surface diabatic heating and TE vorticity forcing. The ocean is governed by a baroclinic Rossby wave equation driven by wind stress. Sea surface temperature (SST) is determined by mixing layer physics. Based on detailed observational analyses, a parameterized linear relationship between TE vorticity forcing and meridional second-order derivative of SST is proposed to close the equations. Analytical solutions of the coupled model show that the midlatitude air-sea interaction with atmospheric TE dynamical forcing can destabilize the oceanic Rossby wave within a wide range of wavelengths. For the most unstable growing mode, characteristic atmospheric streamfunction anomalies are nearly in phase with their oceanic counterparts and both have a northeastward phase shift relative to SST anomalies, as the observed. Although both surface diabatic heating and TE vorticity forcing can lead to unstable air-sea interaction, the latter has a dominant contribution to the unstable growth. Sensitivity analyses further show that the growth rate of the unstable coupled mode is also influenced by the background zonal wind and the air–sea coupling strength. Such an unstable air-sea interaction provides a key positive feedback mechanism for midlatitude coupled climate variabilities.

     

Indian Ocean warming during 1958–2004 simulated by a climate system model and its mechanism

The mechanism responsible for Indian Ocean Sea surface temperature (SST) basin-wide warming trend during 1958–2004 is studied based on both observational data analysis and numerical experiments with a climate system model FGOALS-gl. To quantitatively estimate the relative contributions of external forcing (anthropogenic and natural forcing) and internal variability, three sets of numerical experiments are conducted, viz. an all forcing run forced by both anthropogenic forcing (greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols) and natural forcing (solar constant and volcanic aerosols), a natural forcing run driven by only natural forcing, and a pre-industrial control run. The model results are compared to the observations. The results show that the observed warming trend during 1958–2004 (0.5 K (47-year)^?1) is largely attributed to the external forcing (more than 90 % of the total trend), while the residual is attributed to the internal variability. Model results indicate that the anthropogenic forcing accounts for approximately 98.8 % contribution of the external forcing trend. Heat budget analysis shows that the surface latent heat flux due to atmosphere and surface longwave radiation, which are mainly associated with anthropogenic forcing, are in favor of the basin-wide warming trend. The basin-wide warming is not spatially uniform, but with an equatorial IOD-like pattern in climate model. The atmospheric processes, oceanic processes and climatological latent heat flux together form an equatorial IOD-like warming pattern, and the oceanic process is the most important in forming the zonal dipole pattern. Both the anthropogenic forcing and natural forcing result in easterly wind anomalies over the equator, which reduce the wind speed, thereby lead to less evaporation and warmer SST in the equatorial western basin. Based on Bjerknes feedback, the easterly wind anomalies uplift the thermocline, which is unfavorable to SST warming in the eastern basin, and contribute to SST warming via deeper thermocline in the western basin. The easterly anomalies also drive westward anomalous equatorial currents, against the eastward climatology currents, which is in favor of the SST warming in the western basin via anomalous warm advection. Therefore, both the atmospheric and oceanic processes are in favor of the IOD-like warming pattern formation over the equator.     

我国对流层臭氧增加对气温的影响

利用耦台的区域气候模式和大气化学模式模拟对流层臭氧的产生、分布和对辐射传输、地表温度、气温等的影响。通过对比模拟发现：对流层中臭氧的增加基本使大气顶晴空辐射强迫为正；对流层中的臭氧含量变化能影响云量且进一步影响温度。由于对流层臭氧增加导致的晴空辐射强迫在4月份最大、1月份最小。     

BCC_AGCM2.1对中国东部地区云辐射特征模拟的偏差分析

通过与观测及再分析资料的对比,评估了中国国家气候中心大气环流模式BCC_AGCM 2.1对中国东部地区云辐射特征的模拟性能,并着重分析了模拟偏差的原因.在云辐射特征的基本气候态模拟方面,模式能大致再现中国东部中纬度层状云大值带,以及层状云冷季多、暖季少的季节特征,模拟的短波云辐射强迫也具有与观测相对应的季节变化特征.在云辐射强迫和地面温度相互影响过程的模拟方面,模式也能模拟出与观测相近的相互作用过程,即地面温度降低伴随着层状云云量增多以及负的净云辐射强迫加强,升温时层状云云量减少和净云辐射强迫减弱.但模式模拟的大陆层状云云量系统性偏少(尤其在冷季),使得模式在该处的短波云辐射强迫明显偏弱.初步分析表明,造成层状云模拟差异的主要原因是在中国西南地区对流层低层模式模拟的偏南气流明显偏弱以及陆-气潜热通量偏小.偏南气流偏弱导致低层散度和垂直运动条件不利于中层云的形成.同时偏南气流偏弱也不利于向西南地区的水汽输送,再加上模式模拟地表向上潜热通量偏小,这二者都使得模式模拟中国西南区域对流层低层的水汽含量严重偏少,相对湿度偏低,同样不利于层状云生成和发展.水汽偏少进一步导致在冷异常情况下青藏高原下游云辐射-地表温度反馈模拟偏弱,即呈现冷异常时,水汽条件偏弱限制了云量增加,弱化了进一步降低温度的反馈过程.     

On the Formation of an Elevated Nocturnal Inversion Layer in the Presence of a Low-Level Jet: A Case Study

We report on observed nocturnal profiles, in which an inversion layer is located at the core of a low-level jet, bounded between two well-mixed layers. High-resolution vertical profiles were collected during a field campaign in a small plain in the Israeli desert (Negev), distant 100 km from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. During the evening hours, the synoptic flow, superposed on the late sea breeze, forms a low-level jet characterized by a maximum wind speed of 12 m s ⁻¹ at an altitude of 150 m above the ground. The strong wind shear at the jet maximum generates downward heat fluxes that act against the nocturnal ground cooling. As a result, the typical ground-based nocturnal inversion is “elevated” towards the jet centre, hence a typical early morning thermal profile is observed a few hours after sunset. Since the jet is advected into the region, its formation does not depend on the presence of a surface nocturnal inversion layer to decouple the jet from surface friction. On the contrary, here the advected low-level jet acts to hinder the formation of such an inversion. These unusual temperature and wind profiles are expected to affect near-ground dispersion processes.     

A modeling study of diurnal rainfall variations during the 21-day period of TOGA COARE

The surface rainfall processes and diurnal variations associated with tropical oceanic convection are examined by analyzing a surface rainfall equation and thermal budget based on hourly zonal-mean data from a series of two-dimensional cloud-resolving simulations. The model is integrated for 21 days with imposed large-scale vertical velocity, zonal wind, and horizontal advection obtained from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) in the control experiment. Diurnal analysis shows that the infrared radiative cooling after sunset, as well as the advective cooling associated with imposed large-scale ascending motion, destabilize the atmosphere and release convective available potential energy to energize nocturnal convective development. Substantial local atmospheric drying is associated with the nocturnal rainfall peak in early morning, which is a result of the large condensation and deposition rates in the vapor budget. Sensitivity experiments show that diurnal variations of radiation and large-scale forcing can produce a nocturnal rainfall peak through infrared and advective cooling, respectively.     

Nocturnal boundary layer height prediction from surface routine meteorological data

Summary A number of well known diagnostic equations for the determination of the height,h, of the nocturnal boundary layer. with minimum data requirements of at most surface wind speed, air temperature and total cloud cover, have been tested as to their effectiveness. The computed values have been compared with direct estimation ofh, from temperature or wind profiles of rawinsonde ascents available at 00Z (02h LST). The comparison between computed and observed values shows that best agreement is found when the nocturnal boundary layer height is determined through wind profiles. The ratio of the computed to the observed values reveals a strong dependence on stability, resulting in overestimation by the models for very low stability and underestimation for strong stability. The simple expressions involving the wind speed rather than other stability parameters resulted in a better overall fit to the observed values. A simple prognostic model is shown to provide the best estimates of the NBL height compared to both wind and temperature profile definition.With 5 Figures     

The role of atmosphere feedbacks during ENSO in the CMIP3 models. Part II: using AMIP runs to understand the heat flux feedback mechanisms

Several studies using ocean?Catmosphere general circulation models (GCMs) suggest that the atmospheric component plays a dominant role in the modelled El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). To help elucidate these findings, the two main atmosphere feedbacks relevant to ENSO, the Bjerknes positive feedback (??) and the heat flux negative feedback (??), are here analysed in nine AMIP runs of the CMIP3 multimodel dataset. We find that these models generally have improved feedbacks compared to the coupled runs which were analysed in part I of this study. The Bjerknes feedback,???, is increased in most AMIP runs compared to the coupled run counterparts, and exhibits both positive and negative biases with respect to ERA40. As in the coupled runs, the shortwave and latent heat flux feedbacks are the two dominant components of ?? in the AMIP runs. We investigate the mechanisms behind these two important feedbacks, in particular focusing on the strong 1997?C1998 El Ni?o. Biases in the shortwave flux feedback, ?? _SW, are the main source of model uncertainty in ??. Most models do not successfully represent the negative ??_SW in the East Pacific, primarily due to an overly strong low-cloud positive feedback in the far eastern Pacific. Biases in the cloud response to dynamical changes dominate the modelled ?? _SW biases, though errors in the large-scale circulation response to sea surface temperature (SST) forcing also play a role. Analysis of the cloud radiative forcing in the East Pacific reveals model biases in low cloud amount and optical thickness which may affect ?? _SW. We further show that the negative latent heat flux feedback, ?? _LH, exhibits less diversity than ?? _SW and is primarily driven by variations in the near-surface specific humidity difference. However, biases in both the near-surface wind speed and humidity response to SST forcing can explain the inter-model ??_LH differences.     

Climate forcings and climate sensitivities diagnosed from atmospheric global circulation models

Understanding the historical and future response of the global climate system to anthropogenic emissions of radiatively active atmospheric constituents has become a timely and compelling concern. At present, however, there are uncertainties in: the total radiative forcing associated with changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere; the effective forcing applied to the climate system resulting from a (temporary) reduction via ocean-heat uptake; and the strength of the climate feedbacks that subsequently modify this forcing. Here a set of analyses derived from atmospheric general circulation model simulations are used to estimate the effective and total radiative forcing of the observed climate system due to anthropogenic emissions over the last 50 years of the twentieth century. They are also used to estimate the sensitivity of the observed climate system to these emissions, as well as the expected change in global surface temperatures once the climate system returns to radiative equilibrium. Results indicate that estimates of the effective radiative forcing and total radiative forcing associated with historical anthropogenic emissions differ across models. In addition estimates of the historical sensitivity of the climate to these emissions differ across models. However, results suggest that the variations in climate sensitivity and total climate forcing are not independent, and that the two vary inversely with respect to one another. As such, expected equilibrium temperature changes, which are given by the product of the total radiative forcing and the climate sensitivity, are relatively constant between models, particularly in comparison to results in which the total radiative forcing is assumed constant. Implications of these results for projected future climate forcings and subsequent responses are also discussed.     

On tropospheric adjustment to forcing and climate feedbacks

Motivated by findings that major components of so-called cloud ??feedbacks?? are best understood as rapid responses to CO₂ forcing (Gregory and Webb in J Clim 21:58?C71, 2008), the top of atmosphere (TOA) radiative effects from forcing, and the subsequent responses to global surface temperature changes from all ??atmospheric feedbacks?? (water vapour, lapse rate, surface albedo, ??surface temperature?? and cloud) are examined in detail in a General Circulation Model. Two approaches are used: applying regressions to experiments as they approach equilibrium, and equilibrium experiments forced separately by CO₂ and patterned sea surface temperature perturbations alone. Results are analysed using the partial radiative perturbation (??PRP??) technique. In common with Gregory and Webb (J Clim 21:58?C71, 2008) a strong positive addition to ??forcing?? is found in the short wave (SW) from clouds. There is little evidence, however, of significant global scale rapid responses from long wave (LW) cloud, nor from surface albedo, SW water vapour or ??surface temperature??. These responses may be well understood to first order as classical ??feedbacks????i.e. as a function of global mean temperature alone and linearly related to it. Linear regression provides some evidence of a small rapid negative response in the LW from water vapour, related largely to decreased relative humidity (RH), but the response here, too, is dwarfed by subsequent response to warming. The large rapid SW cloud response is related to cloud fraction changes??and not optical properties??resulting from small cloud decreases ranging from the tropical mid troposphere to the mid latitude lower troposphere, in turn associated with decreased lower tropospheric RH. These regions correspond with levels of enhanced heating rates and increased temperatures from the CO₂ increase. The pattern of SW cloud fraction response to SST changes differs quite markedly to this, with large positive radiation responses originating in the upper troposphere, positive contributions in the lowest levels and patterns of positive/negative contributions in mid latitude low levels. Overall SW cloud feedback was diagnosed as negative, due to the substantial negative SW feedback in cloud optical properties more than offsetting these. This study therefore suggests the rapid response to CO₂ forcing is (apart from a possible small negative response from LW water vapour) essentially confined to cloud fraction changes affecting SW radiation, and further that significant feedbacks with temperature occur in all cloud components (including this one), and indeed in all other classically understood ??feedbacks??.     

Response to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in relation to climate sensitivity in the CMIP3 models

The radiative flux perturbations and subsequent temperature responses in relation to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 are studied in the ten general circulation models incorporated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 3 (CMIP3), that include a parameterization of volcanic aerosol. Models and observations show decreases in global mean temperature of up to 0.5 K, in response to radiative perturbations of up to 10 W m⁻², averaged over the tropics. The time scale representing the delay between radiative perturbation and temperature response is determined by the slow ocean response, and is estimated to be centered around 4 months in the models. Although the magniude of the temperature response to a volcanic eruption has previously been used as an indicator of equilibrium climate sensitivity in models, we find these two quantities to be only weakly correlated. This may partly be due to the fact that the size of the volcano-induced radiative perturbation varies among the models. It is found that the magnitude of the modelled radiative perturbation increases with decreasing climate sensitivity, with the exception of one outlying model. Therefore, we scale the temperature perturbation by the radiative perturbation in each model, and use the ratio between the integrated temperature perturbation and the integrated radiative perturbation as a measure of sensitivity to volcanic forcing. This ratio is found to be well correlated with the model climate sensitivity, more sensitive models having a larger ratio. Further, if this correspondence between “volcanic sensitivity” and sensitivity to CO₂ forcing is a feature not only among the models, but also of the real climate system, the alleged linear relation can be used to estimate the real climate sensitivity. The observational value of the ratio signifying volcanic sensitivity is hereby estimated to correspond to an equilibrium climate sensitivity, i.e. equilibrium temperature increase due to a doubling of the CO₂ concentration, between 1.7 and 4.1 K. Several sources of uncertainty reside in the method applied, and it is pointed out that additional model output, related to ocean heat storage and radiative forcing, could refine the analysis, as could reduced uncertainty in the observational record, of temperature as well as forcing.     

Temperature stabilization, ocean heat uptake and radiative forcing overshoot profiles

Political leaders in numerous nations argue for an upper limit of the global average surface temperature of 2 K above the pre-industrial level, in order to attempt to avoid the most serious impacts of climate change. This paper analyzes what this limit implies in terms of radiative forcing, emissions pathways and abatement costs, for a range of assumptions on rate of ocean heat uptake and climate sensitivity. The primary aim is to analyze the importance of ocean heat uptake for radiative forcing pathways that temporarily overshoot the long-run stabilization forcing, yet keep the temperature increase at or below the 2 K limit. In order to generate such pathways, an integrated climate-economy model, MiMiC, is used, in which the emissions pathways generated represent the least-cost solution of stabilizing the global average surface temperature at 2 K above the pre-industrial level. We find that the level of overshoot can be substantial. For example, the level of overshoot in radiative forcing in 2100 ranges from about 0.2 to 1 W/m2, where the value depends strongly and positively on the effective diffusivity of heat in the oceans. Measured in relative terms, the level of radiative forcing overshoot above its longrun equilibrium level in 2100 is 20% to 60% for high values of climate sensitivity (i.e., about 4.5 K) and 8% to 30% for low values of climate sensitivity (i.e., about 2 K). In addition, for cases in which the radiative forcing level can be directly stabilized at the equilibrium level associated with a specific climate sensitivity and the 2 K limit, the net present value abatement cost is roughly cut by half if overshoot pathways are considered instead of stabilization of radiative forcing at the equilibrium level without an overshoot.