DOI: 10.5063/aa/dpennington.220.1
title: IPCC Climate Change Data: HADCM3 A2b Model: 2050 Precipitation

description: The recent experiments performed at the Hadley Centre have used the new Unified Model (Cullen, 1993). These experiments represent a large step forward in the way climate change is modelled by GCMs and raises new possibilities for scenario construction. This experiment has overcome some of the major difficulties that were associated with the previous generations of equilibrium (circa IPCC 1990) and cold-start transient (circa IPCC 1992) climate change experiments. HadCM2 has a spatial resolution of 2.5 degrees x 3.75 degrees (latitude by longitude) and the representation produces a grid box resolution of 96 x 73 grid cells. This produces a surface spatial resolution of about 417km x 278 km reducing to 295 x 278km at 45 degrees North and South (comparable to a spectral resolution of T42). The equilibrium climate sensitivity (DT2x) of HadCM2, that is the global-mean temperature response to a doubling of effective CO2 concentration, is approximately 2.5 degrees C, although, this quantity varies with the time-scale considered. This is somewhat lower than most other GCMs (IPCC, 1992). In order to undertake a 'warm-start' experiment it is necessary to perturb the model with a forcing from an early historical era, when the radiative forcing was relatively small compared to the present. The Hadley Centre started their experiments performed with HadCM2 with forcing from the middle industrial era, about 1860 Mitchell et al., 1995 and Johns et al., 1995. The greenhouse gas only integrations, HadCM2GG, used the combined forcing of all the greenhouse gases as an equivalent CO2 concentration. A further series of integrations, HadCM2GS, used the combined equivalent CO2 concentration plus the negative forcing from sulphate aerosols. The HadCM2GG integrations simulated the change in forcing of the climate system by greenhouse gases since the early industrial period (taken by HadCM2 to be 1860). The addition of the negative forcing effects of sulphate aerosols represents the direct radiative forcing due to anthropogenic sulphate aerosols by means of an increase in clear-sky surface albedo proportional to the local sulphate loading (refer to Mitchell et al., 1995 for details of this method). The indirect effects of aerosols were not simulated. The modelled control climate shows a negligible long term trend in surface air temperature over the first 400 years. The trend is about +0.04 degrees C per century, which is comparable to other such experiments. HadCM2CON represents an improvement over previous generations of GCMs that have been used at the Hadley Centre (Johns et al., 1995 and Airey et al., 1995). The experiments performed have simulated the observed climate system using estimated forcing perturbations since 1860. Johns et al., (1995) and Mitchell et al., (1995) have established that HadCM2's sensitivity is consistent with the real climate system. The agreement between the observed global-mean temperature record and that produced in these experiments is better for HadCM2GS than for HadCM2GG. This implies that HadCM2Gs has captured the observed signal of global-mean temperature changes better than HadCM2GG for the recent 100-year record. The climate sensitivity of HadCM2 is about 2.5 degrees CFor the A2 emissions scenario the main emphasis is on a strengthening of regional and local culture, with a return to family values in many regions. The A2 world consolidates into a series of roughly continental economic regions, emphasizing local cultural roots. In some regions, increased religious participation leads many to reject a materialist path and to focus attention on contributing to the local community. Elsewhere, the trend is towards increased investment in education and science and growth in economic productivity. Social and political structures diversify, with some regions moving towards stronger welfare systems and reduced income inequality, while others move towards "lean" government. Environmental concerns are relatively weak, although some attention is paid to bringing local pollution under control and maintaining local environmental amenities. The A2 world sees more international tensions and less cooperation than in A1 or B1. People, ideas and capital are less mobile so that technology diffuses slowly. International disparities in productivity, and hence income per capita, are maintained or increased. With the emphasis on family and community life, fertility rates decline only slowly, although they vary among regions. Hence, this scenario family has high population growth (to 15 billion by 2100) with comparatively low incomes per capita relative to the A1 and B1 worlds, at US$7,200 in 2050 and US$16,000 in 2100.Technological change is rapid in some regions and slow in others as industry adjusts to local resource endowments, culture, and education levels. Regions with abundant energy and mineral resources evolve more resource intensive economies, while those poor in resources place very high priority on minimizing import dependence through technological innovation to improve resource efficiency and make use of substitute inputs. The fuel mix in different regions is determined primarily by resource availability. And divisions among regions persist in terms of their mix of technologies, with high-income but resource-poor regions shifting toward advanced post fossil technologies (renewables in regions of large land availability, nuclear in densely populated, resource poor regions) and low-income resource-rich regions generally relying on older fossil technologies.With substantial food requirements, agricultural productivity is one of the main focus areas for innovation and RD efforts in this future. Initially high levels of soil erosion and water pollution are eventually eased through the local development of more sustainable high-yield agriculture.Although attention is given to potential local and regional environmental damage, it is not uniform across regions. For example, sulfur and particulate emissions are reduced in Asia due to impacts on human health and agricultural production but increase in Africa as a result of the intensified exploitation of coal and other mineral resources. The A2 world sees high energy and carbon intensity, and correspondingly high GHG emissions. Its CO2 emissions are the highest of all four scenario families. Data are available for the following periods: 1961-1990, 2010-2039; 2040-2069; and 2090-2099 Mean monthly and change fields.