EdGCM: Climate Modeling for Research and Education - "Anthropocene" Greenhouse Gas Effects

Outreach - Student Projects
Written by Dominique Alhambra and Christine Kwitek
Wednesday, 09 May 2007
Submitted in partial fulfillment of: Course No. AOS 331, Prof. Jack Williams, Dept of Geography, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison. Fall 2006 Figure 1: Divergence of observed methane (a) and carbon dioxide (b) trends in the Holocene from natural trends estimated from previous interglacials (Ruddiman et al., 2005). The early anthropogenic hypothesis by William Ruddiman posits that human influence on climate may have actually begun thousands, not hundreds, of years ago. Increased greenhouse gas levels were not solely caused by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning after the start of the Industrial Revolution, but also caused by our ancestors’ first agricultural developments. The resultant rise in temperature then delayed the glacial onset that should have occurred naturally. Through climate simulations with the EdGCM model, we compared pre- and post-industrial levels to estimated natural levels for five greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and two chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Our results put our model at, or very close to, an incipient glacial state, supporting the hypothesis of an overdue glaciation.

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