Ayissi, Francis FBK;
Da Allada, Casimir Y;
Baloïtcha, Ezinvi;
Tilmes, Simone;
Irvine, Peter J;
(2023)
Impact of Stratospheric Geoengineering on Sea Surface Temperature in the Northern Gulf of Guinea.
Climate
, 11
(4)
, Article 87. 10.3390/cli11040087.
Preview |
PDF
climate-11-00087-v2.pdf - Published Version Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Among techniques proposed to limit global warming, there is Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering (SAG) which is aiming to increase Earth-atmosphere albedo by injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere in order to reduce the solar radiation that reaches the earth. This study aims to assess the potential impact of SAG on Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Northern Gulf of Guinea and its causes using GLENS (Geoengineering Large Ensemble) simulations performed under a high anthropogenic emission scenario (RCP8.5). Here, we focus on two dynamically different regions: Sassandra Upwelling in Côte d’Ivoire (SUC, located east of Cape Palmas) and Takoradi Upwelling in Ghana (TUG, located east of Cape Three Points). Results show that in the SUC region, under climate change, there is an increase in SST (referred to as the current climate) all year long (by 1.52 °C on average) mainly due to an increase in net heat flux (lead by the decrease in longwave radiation) and also in weak vertical mixing (caused by strong stratification which dominates the vertical shear). Under SAG, SST decreases all the seasonal cycle with its maximum in December (−0.4 °C) due to a reduction in the net heat flux (caused by a diminution of solar radiation) and an increase in vertical advection (due to an increase in vertical temperature gradient and vertical velocity). In the TUG region, under climate change, SST warming is a little more intense than in the SUC region and SST changes are driven by an increase in the net heat flux and strong stratification. The cooling of the SST in TUG is similar to the SUC region, but contrary to this region, the cooling under SAG is not only explained by a decrease in the net heat flux but also by the remote forcing of wind changes at the western equatorial Atlantic.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Impact of Stratospheric Geoengineering on Sea Surface Temperature in the Northern Gulf of Guinea |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/cli11040087 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.3390/cli11040087 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | SST; GLENS; SAG; northern Gulf of Guinea; RCP8.5 scenario |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10169028 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
