Tectonic exhumation of the Central Alps recorded by detrital zircon in theMolasse Basin, Switzerland Solid Earth DOI 10.5194/se-11-2197-2020 23 December 2020 We present new U–Pb age data to provide insights into the source of sediment for the Molasse Sedimentary Basin in Switzerland. The paper aims to help shed light on the processes that built the Central Alpine Mountains between ~35 and ~15 Ma. A primary conclusion drawn from the results is that at ~21 Ma there was a significant change in the sediment sources for the basin. We feel this change indicates major tectonic changes within the Central Alps. Read more
Evaluation of Arctic warming in mid-Pliocene climate simulations Climate of the Past DOI 10.5194/cp-16-2325-2020 22 December 2020 The simulations for the past climate can inform us about the performance of climate models in different climate scenarios. Here, we analyse Arctic warming in an ensemble of 16 simulations of the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP), when the CO 2 level was comparable to today. The results highlight the importance of slow feedbacks in the model simulations and imply that we must be careful when using simulations of the mPWP as an analogue for future climate change. Read more
Sensitivity of the Southern Hemisphere circumpolar jet response to Antarctic ozone depletion: prescribed versus interactive chemistry Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics DOI 10.5194/acp-20-14043-2020 21 December 2020 Ozone depletion over Antarctica was shown to influence the tropospheric jet in the Southern Hemisphere. We investigate the atmospheric response to ozone depletion comparing climate model ensembles with interactive and prescribed ozone fields. We show that allowing feedbacks between ozone chemistry and model physics as well as including asymmetries in ozone leads to a strengthened ozone depletion signature in the stratosphere but does not significantly affect the tropospheric jet position. Read more
Distinguishing the impacts of ozone and ozone-depleting substanceson the recent increase in Antarctic surface mass balance The Cryosphere DOI 10.5194/tc-14-4135-2020 18 December 2020 The increase in Antarctic surface mass balance (SMB, precipitation vs. evaporation/sublimation) is projected to mitigate sea-level rise. Here we show that nearly half of this increase over the 20th century is attributed to stratospheric ozone depletion and ozone-depleting substance (ODS) emissions. Our results suggest that the phaseout of ODS by the Montreal Protocol, and the recovery of stratospheric ozone, will act to decrease the SMB over the 21st century and the mitigation of sea-level rise. Read more
Earth Girl Volcano: characterizing and conveying volcanic hazard complexity in an interactive casual game of disaster preparedness and response Geoscience Communication DOI 10.5194/gc-3-343-2020 17 December 2020 Earth Girl Volcano is a casual strategy interactive game about saving communities at risk of volcanic hazards. The easy-to-play game features a friendly animated visual style and an engaging simulation of volcanic events. The game was designed by a multidisciplinary team to appeal to mainstream non-technical audiences, and it was inspired by the experiences of disaster survivors and civil defense teams. Players can learn through gameplay about disaster preparedness and response. Read more
The baseline wander correction based on the improved ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) algorithm for groundedelectrical source airborne transient electromagnetic signals Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems DOI 10.5194/gi-9-443-2020 16 December 2020 The baseline wander has special characteristics, such as being low frequency, large amplitude, non-periodic, and non-stationary. It is caused by the receiving coil motion and always exists in the process of data acquisition. The proposed method can be used to solve similar problems. This paper has the following highlights: (1) the method can be used to process non-periodic and non-stationary signals; (2) the method is adaptive to satisfy the stopping criterion based on the measured signal. Read more
Millennial-scale atmospheric CO2 variations during the Marine Isotope Stage 6 period (190–135 ka) Climate of the Past DOI 10.5194/cp-16-2203-2020 15 December 2020 We reconstruct atmospheric CO 2 from the EPICA Dome C ice core during Marine Isotope Stage 6 (185–135 ka) to understand carbon mechanisms under the different boundary conditions of the climate system. The amplitude of CO 2 is highly determined by the Northern Hemisphere stadial duration. Carbon dioxide maxima show different lags with respect to the corresponding abrupt CH 4 jumps, the latter reflecting rapid warming in the Northern Hemisphere. Read more
Reduced global warming from CMIP6 projections when weighting models by performance and independence Earth System Dynamics DOI 10.5194/esd-11-995-2020 14 December 2020 In this study, we weight climate models by their performance with respect to simulating aspects of historical climate and their degree of interdependence. Our method is found to increase projection skill and to correct for structurally similar models. The weighted end-of-century mean warming (2081–2100 relative to 1995–2014) is 3.7 °C with a likely (66 %) range of 3.1 to 4.6 °C for the strong climate change scenario SSP5-8.5; this is a reduction of 0.4 °C compared with the unweighted mean. Read more
European daily precipitation according to EURO-CORDEX regionalclimate models (RCMs) andhigh-resolution globalclimate models (GCMs) from the High-Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) Geoscientific Model Development DOI 10.5194/gmd-13-5485-2020 11 December 2020 Now that global climate models (GCMs) can run at similar resolutions to regional climate models (RCMs), one may wonder whether GCMs and RCMs provide similar regional climate information. We perform an evaluation for daily precipitation distribution in PRIMAVERA GCMs (25–50 km resolution) and CORDEX RCMs (12–50 km resolution) over Europe. We show that PRIMAVERA and CORDEX simulate similar distributions. Considering both datasets at such a resolution results in large benefits for impact studies. Read more
Validation of Aeolus wind products above the Atlantic Ocean Atmospheric Measurement Techniques DOI 10.5194/amt-13-6007-2020 10 December 2020 A first validation for the European satellite Aeolus is presented. Aeolus is the first satellite that can actively measure horizontal wind profiles from space. Radiosonde launches on board the German research vessel Polarstern have been utilized to validate Aeolus observations over the Atlantic Ocean, a region where almost no other reference measurements are available. It is shown that Aeolus is able to measure accurately atmospheric winds and thus may significantly improve weather forecasts. Read more
