| Author(s): |
Bert W. Rust; |
| Title: |
A Mathematical Model of Atmospheric Retention of Man-made CO_2 Emissions |
| Published: |
December 21, 2010 |
| Abstract: |
Rust and Thijsse [Proc. CSC'07 (2007) pp. 10-16], [CiSE, Vol. 10 (2008) pp. 49-59] have shown that global annual average temperature anomalies T(t) vary linearly with atmospheric CO_2 concentrations c(t). The c(t) can be related to man-made CO_2 emissions F(t) by a linear regression model whose solution vector gives the unknown retention fractions gamma(t) of the F(t) in the atmosphere. Gaps in the c(t) record make the system underdetermined, but the constraints 0 <= gamma(t) <= 1 make estimation tractable. The gamma(t) are estimated by two methods: (1) assuming a finite harmonic expansion for gamma(t), and (2) using a constrained least squares algorithm [Pierce and Rust, SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput., Vol. 6 (1985) pp. 670-683] to compute average values of gamma(t) on suitably chosen time subintervals. The final result is an estimate of gamma(t) with enough accuracy to firmly establish a simple mathematical relationship between man-made emissions and global warming. |
| Citation: |
Mathematics and Computers in Simulation |
| Volume: |
81 |
| Pages: |
pp. 2326 - 2336 |
| Keywords: |
atmospherAic CO_2; CO_2 emissions; global Temperatures; global Warming |
| Research Areas: |
Modeling, Environment/Climate |
| PDF version: |
 Click here to retrieve PDF version of paper (559KB) |
