High climate sensitivity in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2)

The Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2) has an equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of 5.3K. ECS is an emergent property of both climate feedbacks and aerosol forcing. The increase in ECS over the previous version (CESM1) is the result of cloud feedbacks. Interim versions of CESM2 had a land model that damped ECS. Part of the ECS change results from evolving the model configuration to reproduce the long-term trend of global and regional surface temperature over the twentieth century in response to climate forcings. Changes made to reduce sensitivity to aerosols also impacted cloud feedbacks, which significantly influence ECS. CESM2 simulations compare very well to observations of present climate. It is critical to understand whether the high ECS, outside the best estimate range of 1.5-4.5K, is plausible.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links

Related Dataset #1 : High Climate Sensitivity in the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2)
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor N/A
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author Gettelman, Andrew
Hannay, Cecile E.
Bacmeister, Julio T.
Neale, Richard B.
Pendergrass, Angeline G.
Danabasoglu, Gokhan
Lamarque, Jean-Francois
Fasullo, John T.
Bailey, David A.
Lawrence, David M.
Mills, Michael J.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2019-07-28T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2023-08-18T19:22:58.533834
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:22792
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Gettelman, Andrew, Hannay, Cecile E., Bacmeister, Julio T., Neale, Richard B., Pendergrass, Angeline G., Danabasoglu, Gokhan, Lamarque, Jean-Francois, Fasullo, John T., Bailey, David A., Lawrence, David M., Mills, Michael J.. (2019). High climate sensitivity in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2). UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7222xw1. Accessed 23 July 2025.

Harvest Source