ABSTRACT ATM 97-11492 Liu , Zhengyu U WISC TITLE: Multi-component Response of the Tropical Atmosphere Vegetation System to CO2 Increase The response of the global climate and biosphere to the increase of CO2 is a major concern for the future. The behavior of the tropical atmosphere/ocean/vegetation system is of particular importance because a very significant fraction of the world's population lives in the tropics, and changes in climate, and in food and water resources will have important societal consequences. The linkages between the long term atmosphere- ocean- vegetation response to CO2 increases, and the additional impact of massive tropical deforestation, require analysis of complex, multi-component models. The PIs will conduct these studies using state of the art climate model, the NCAR Community Climate Model, linked to a terrestrial vegetation model. They will use a relatively new methodology, equilibrium asynchronous coupling, to help diagnose the effects of changes in component on the other components. The new coupling method if tested successful will result in significant economy of computational time needed to run ensembles of model simulations that are generally needed in climate research. This award is funded under the NSF Methods and Models for Integrated Assessments initiative.
