Pandemic-related assessment of Earth System Model simulations

Abstract:

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing transportation has dramatically and quantifiably altered the human imprint on the atmosphere. We might have designed our observing system differently had we known that such an abrupt, global phenomenon was possible. It is still feasible to use both direct observations and reanalysis data to create metrics to assess the weather- and climate-related impacts of the transportation sector of the global economy, and to evaluate our weather, water and climate simulations – specifically their sensitivity, time scales and parameterizations associated with radiation, clouds and mixing.