cc: "John Holdren" , "Rosina Bierbaum" , "Scaife, Adam" , "Gordon, Chris" , "Colman, Andrew" , "Graham, Richard" date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:23:56 +0100 from: "Folland, Chris" subject: RE: Temperatures in 2009 to: "Mike MacCracken" , "Phil Jones" Dear Mike Three months of 2009 have passed since your email about discussions in USA about our 2009 forecast. Some very provisional things can now be said about our 2009 forecast prospects. I have consulted with experts here on whether they think anthropogenic aerosols globally have increased relative to the assumptions made in standard IPCC scenarios which we use in our relatively simple system and thus in the 2009 forecast. The general view is no. Our forecast does assume that recent La Nina conditions will disappear and be replaced by neutral to weak El Nino conditions for much of 2009. It assumes a continuation of a near minimum in solar output and a current background warming rate of about 0.015C per year, close to the recent observed rate reported in IPCC 2007, Chapter 3. La Nina conditions now appear to have just about completely disappeared (mid April); the EUROSIP coupled model forecast consensus is for weak El Nino conditions to develop over the next few months. The global mean surface temperature anomaly for Jan-March 2009 is 0.38+0.10 as assessed by HadCRUT3, close to what our forecast would implicitly assume at this stage of the year i.e. the disappearance of La Nina but no sign of an El Nino yet. I shall be writing up the forecast system for publication this summer and autumn now that we have 9 independent years 2000-2008 and a tenth, 2009, developing. I would be grateful to have some informal reviews of the paper to present it in the best way - would you be willing to help here sometime in the autumn? With best wishes Chris Prof. Chris Folland Research Fellow, Seasonal to Decadal Forecasting (from 2 June 2008) Met Office Hadley Centre, Fitzroy Rd, Exeter, Devon EX1 3PB United Kingdom Email: chris.folland@metoffice.gov.uk Tel: +44 (0)1647 432978 Fax: (in UK) 0870 900 5050 (International) +44 (0)113 336 1072) Fellow of the Met Office Hon. Professor of School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia -----Original Message----- From: Mike MacCracken [mailto:mmaccrac@comcast.net] Sent: 03 January 2009 16:44 To: Phil Jones; Folland, Chris Cc: John Holdren; Rosina Bierbaum Subject: Temperatures in 2009 Dear Phil and Chris-- Your prediction for 2009 is very interesting (see note below for notice that went around to email list for a lot of US Congressional staff)--and I would expect the analysis you have done is correct. But, I have one nagging question, and that is how much SO2/sulfate is being generated by the rising emissions from China and India (I know that at least some plants are using desulfurization--but that antidotes are not an inventory). I worry that what the western nations did in the mid 20th century is going to be what the eastern nations do in the next few decades--go to tall stacks so that, for the near-term, "dilution is the solution to pollution". While I understand there are efforts to get much better inventories of CO2 emissions from these nations, when I asked a US EPA representative if their efforts were going to also inventory SO2 emissions (amount and height of emission), I was told they were not. So, it seems, the scientific uncertainty generated by not having good data from the mid-20th century is going to be repeated in the early 21st century (satellites may help on optical depth, but it would really help to know what is being emitted). That there is a large potential for a cooling influence is sort of evident in the IPCC figure about the present sulfate distribution--most is right over China, for example, suggesting that the emissions are near the surface--something also that is, so to speak, 'clear' from the very poor visibility and air quality in China and India. So, the quick, fast, cheap fix is to put the SO2 out through tall stacks. The cooling potential also seems quite large as the plume would go out over the ocean with its low albedo--and right where a lot of water vapor is evaporated, so maybe one pulls down the water vapor feedback a little and this amplifies the sulfate cooling influence. Now, I am not at all sure that having more tropospheric sulfate would be a bad idea as it would limit warming--I even have started suggesting that the least expensive and quickest geoengineering approach to limit global warming would be to enhance the sulfate loading--or at the very least we need to maintain the current sulfate cooling offset while we reduce CO2 emissions (and presumably therefore, SO2 emissions, unless we manage things) or we will get an extra bump of warming. Sure, a bit more acid deposition, but it is not harmful over the ocean (so we only/mainly emit for trajectories heading out over the ocean) and the impacts of deposition may well be less that for global warming (will be a tough comparison, but likely worth looking at). Indeed, rather than go to stratospheric sulfate injections, I am leaning toward tropospheric, but only during periods when trajectories are heading over ocean and material won't get rained out for 10 days or so. Would be an interesting issue to do research on--see what could be done. In any case, if the sulfate hypothesis is right, then your prediction of warming might end up being wrong. I think we have been too readily explaining the slow changes over past decade as a result of variability--that explanation is wearing thin. I would just suggest, as a backup to your prediction, that you also do some checking on the sulfate issue, just so you might have a quantified explanation in case the prediction is wrong. Otherwise, the Skeptics will be all over us--the world is really cooling, the models are no good, etc. And all this just as the US is about ready to get serious on the issue. We all, and you all in particular, need to be prepared. Best, Mike MacCracken Researchers Say 2009 to Be One of Warmest Years on Record On December 30, climate scientists from the UK Met Office and the University of East Anglia projected 2009 will be one of the top five warmest years on record. Average global temperatures for 2009 are predicted to be 0.4°C above the 1961-1990 average of 14 º C. A multiyear forecast using a Met Office climate model indicates a ³rapid return of global temperature to the long-term warming trend,² with an increasing probability of record temperatures after 2009. ³The fact that 2009, like 2008, will not break records does not mean that global warming has gone away . . . . What matters is the underlying rate of warming,² said Dr. Phil Jones, the director of climate research at the University of East Anglia. The presence of La Nina during the last year partially masked this underlying rate. ³Phenomena such as El Nino and La Nina have a significant influence on global surface temperature,² said Dr. Chris Folland of the Met Office Hadley Center. ³Further warming to record levels is likely once a moderate El Nino develops.² The transition from a La Nina effect to an El Nino one is expected late next year. For additional information see: http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE4BT49920081230 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4030681/New-Years-Eve-set-to-be-c older-than-in-Iceland.html http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aTHzt5EA3UXs http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2008/pr20081230.html