TY - JOUR A1 - Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich A1 - Rogelj, Joeri A1 - Schaeffer, Michiel A1 - Lissner, Tabea A1 - Licker, Rachel A1 - Fischer, Erich M. A1 - Knutti, Reto A1 - Levermann, Anders A1 - Frieler, Katja A1 - Hare, William T1 - Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal JF - Nature climate change Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE3096 SN - 1758-678X SN - 1758-6798 VL - 6 SP - 827 EP - 835 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich A1 - Lissner, Tabea Katharina A1 - Fischer, Erich M. A1 - Wohland, Jan A1 - Perrette, Mahé A1 - Golly, Antonius A1 - Rogelj, Joeri A1 - Childers, Katelin A1 - Schewe, Jacob A1 - Frieler, Katja A1 - Mengel, Matthias A1 - Hare, William A1 - Schaeffer, Michiel T1 - Differential climate impacts for policy-relevant limits to global warming BT - the case of 1.5 °C and 2 °C T2 - Earth System Dynamics N2 - Robust appraisals of climate impacts at different levels of global-mean temperature increase are vital to guide assessments of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The 2015 Paris Agreement includes a two-headed temperature goal: "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C". Despite the prominence of these two temperature limits, a comprehensive overview of the differences in climate impacts at these levels is still missing. Here we provide an assessment of key impacts of climate change at warming levels of 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C, including extreme weather events, water availability, agricultural yields, sea-level rise and risk of coral reef loss. Our results reveal substantial differences in impacts between a 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C warming that are highly relevant for the assessment of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. For heat-related extremes, the additional 0.5 degrees C increase in global-mean temperature marks the difference between events at the upper limit of present-day natural variability and a new climate regime, particularly in tropical regions. Similarly, this warming difference is likely to be decisive for the future of tropical coral reefs. In a scenario with an end-of-century warming of 2 degrees C, virtually all tropical coral reefs are projected to be at risk of severe degradation due to temperature-induced bleaching from 2050 onwards. This fraction is reduced to about 90% in 2050 and projected to decline to 70% by 2100 for a 1.5 degrees C scenario. Analyses of precipitation-related impacts reveal distinct regional differences and hot-spots of change emerge. Regional reduction in median water availability for the Mediterranean is found to nearly double from 9% to 17% between 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C, and the projected lengthening of regional dry spells increases from 7 to 11%. Projections for agricultural yields differ between crop types as well as world regions. While some (in particular high-latitude) regions may benefit, tropical regions like West Africa, South-East Asia, as well as Central and northern South America are projected to face substantial local yield reductions, particularly for wheat and maize. Best estimate sea-level rise projections based on two illustrative scenarios indicate a 50cm rise by 2100 relative to year 2000-levels for a 2 degrees C scenario, and about 10 cm lower levels for a 1.5 degrees C scenario. In a 1.5 degrees C scenario, the rate of sea-level rise in 2100 would be reduced by about 30% compared to a 2 degrees C scenario. Our findings highlight the importance of regional differentiation to assess both future climate risks and different vulnerabilities to incremental increases in global-mean temperature. The article provides a consistent and comprehensive assessment of existing projections and a good basis for future work on refining our understanding of the difference between impacts at 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C warming. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 426 KW - sea-level rise KW - Greenland ice-sheet KW - coral-reefs KW - precipitation extremes KW - West Antarctica KW - pine Island KW - model KW - projections KW - temperature KW - scenarios Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-410258 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich A1 - Lissner, Tabea K. A1 - Fischer, Erich M. A1 - Wohland, Jan A1 - Perrette, Mahe A1 - Golly, Antonius A1 - Rogelj, Joeri A1 - Childers, Katelin A1 - Schewe, Jacob A1 - Frieler, Katja A1 - Mengel, Matthias A1 - Hare, William A1 - Schaeffer, Michiel T1 - Differential climate impacts for policy-relevant limits to global warming: the case of 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C JF - Earth system dynamics N2 - Robust appraisals of climate impacts at different levels of global-mean temperature increase are vital to guide assessments of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The 2015 Paris Agreement includes a two-headed temperature goal: "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C". Despite the prominence of these two temperature limits, a comprehensive overview of the differences in climate impacts at these levels is still missing. Here we provide an assessment of key impacts of climate change at warming levels of 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C, including extreme weather events, water availability, agricultural yields, sea-level rise and risk of coral reef loss. Our results reveal substantial differences in impacts between a 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C warming that are highly relevant for the assessment of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. For heat-related extremes, the additional 0.5 degrees C increase in global-mean temperature marks the difference between events at the upper limit of present-day natural variability and a new climate regime, particularly in tropical regions. Similarly, this warming difference is likely to be decisive for the future of tropical coral reefs. In a scenario with an end-of-century warming of 2 degrees C, virtually all tropical coral reefs are projected to be at risk of severe degradation due to temperature-induced bleaching from 2050 onwards. This fraction is reduced to about 90% in 2050 and projected to decline to 70% by 2100 for a 1.5 degrees C scenario. Analyses of precipitation-related impacts reveal distinct regional differences and hot-spots of change emerge. Regional reduction in median water availability for the Mediterranean is found to nearly double from 9% to 17% between 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C, and the projected lengthening of regional dry spells increases from 7 to 11%. Projections for agricultural yields differ between crop types as well as world regions. While some (in particular high-latitude) regions may benefit, tropical regions like West Africa, South-East Asia, as well as Central and northern South America are projected to face substantial local yield reductions, particularly for wheat and maize. Best estimate sea-level rise projections based on two illustrative scenarios indicate a 50cm rise by 2100 relative to year 2000-levels for a 2 degrees C scenario, and about 10 cm lower levels for a 1.5 degrees C scenario. In a 1.5 degrees C scenario, the rate of sea-level rise in 2100 would be reduced by about 30% compared to a 2 degrees C scenario. Our findings highlight the importance of regional differentiation to assess both future climate risks and different vulnerabilities to incremental increases in global-mean temperature. The article provides a consistent and comprehensive assessment of existing projections and a good basis for future work on refining our understanding of the difference between impacts at 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C warming. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-327-2016 SN - 2190-4979 SN - 2190-4987 VL - 7 SP - 327 EP - 351 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brovkin, Victor A1 - Claussen, Martin A1 - Driesschaert, Emmanuelle A1 - Fichefet, Thierry A1 - Kicklighter, David Wesley A1 - Loutre, Marie-France A1 - Matthews, H. Damon A1 - Ramankutty, Navin Delire A1 - Schaeffer, Michiel A1 - Sokolov, Andrei T1 - Biogeophysical effects of historical land cover changes simulated by six Earth system models of intermediate complexity N2 - Six Earth system models of intermediate complexity that are able to simulate interaction between atmosphere, ocean, and land surface, were forced with a scenario of land cover changes during the last millennium. In response to historical deforestation of about 18 million sq km, the models simulate a decrease in global mean annual temperature in the range of 0.13-0.25 degrees C. The rate of this cooling accelerated during the 19th century, reached a maximum in the first half of the 20th century, and declined at the end of the 20th century. This trend is explained by temporal and spatial dynamics of land cover changes, as the effect of deforestation on temperature is less pronounced for tropical than for temperate regions, and reforestation in the northern temperate areas during the second part of the 20th century partly offset the cooling trend. In most of the models, land cover changes lead to a decline in annual land evapotranspiration, while seasonal changes are rather equivocal because of spatial shifts in convergence zones. In the future, reforestation might be chosen as an option for the enhancement of terrestrial carbon sequestration. Our study indicates that biogeophysical mechanisms need to be accounted for in the assessment of land management options for climate change mitigation Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/100405 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-005-0092-6 SN - 0930-7575 ER -