Estimates of radiative forcing due to modeled increases in tropospheric ozone

Abstract

The GFDL R30 general circulation model (GCM) and a fixed dynamical heating model (FDHM) are used to assess the instantaneous and adjusted radiative forcing due to changes in tropospheric ozone caused by anthropogenic activity. Ozone perturbations from the GFDL global chemical transport model are applied to the GCM, and the instantaneous solar and terrestrial radiative forcings are calculated excluding and including clouds. The FDHM is used to calculate the adjusted radiative forcing at the tropopause. The net global annual mean adjusted radiative forcing, including clouds, ranges from +0.29 to +0.35 W m−2 with ∼80% of this forcing being in the terrestrial spectrum. If stratospheric adjustment is ignored, the forcing increases by ∼10%, and if clouds are ignored, the radiative forcing increases by a further 20–30%. These results are in reasonable agreement with earlier studies and suggest that changes in tropospheric ozone due to anthropogenic emissions exert a global mean radiative forcing that is of similar magnitude but of opposite sign to the direct forcing of sulfate aerosols.