H34D-08
Does increasing CO2 increase aridity?
Wednesday, 16 December 2015: 17:45
3022 (Moscone West)
Graham D Farquhar, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia, Peter Greve, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland and Michael L Roderick, Australian National University, Research School of Earth Sciences and Research School of Biology, Canberra, Australia
Abstract:
One widely held view is that CO2-induced warming will increase global aridity. However, the geoscience community have long held that the colder glacial periods are more arid than the warmer inter-glacial periods. This paradox remains a puzzle. In this presentation we use a combination of theory, observations and climate/vegetation models to investigate the aridity paradox. We conclude that current Earth System Models project a decrease in aridity as elevated CO2 increases.
