Understanding the Impacts of Large-Scale Climate Variability on the Global Carbon Cycle

Recap of project goals The principle goal of the research project is to bring together scientists with seemingly disparate expertise to systematically develop and test hypotheses regarding the impact of large scale climate variability on the carbon cycle. The research is largely focused on the dominant patterns of hemispheric scale variability, the so-called Northern and Southern Hemisphere annular modes. This is because both annular modes have marked impacts on surface climate throughout their respective hemispheres, and both annular modes are known to have exhibited low frequency variability over the past few decades. There is considerable evidence that the observed trends in the annular modes are at least partially driven by increased anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse and ozonedepleting gases. Hence, the ongoing research is key for understanding and anticipating the future behavior of not only the carbon cycle, but of the atmospheric general circulation as well.