The phrase
"representative concentration pathways" refers to a set of scenarios that depict how human activities, like burning fossil fuels, might impact the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These pathways are used to understand potential future climate change and help scientists and policymakers make informed decisions to combat it.
Full definition
This trend was projected to increase to 0.06 oC per decade and 0.17 oC per decade
under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 scenario (RCP4.5) and RCP8.5, respectively, and reduce to 0.02 oC per decade under RCP2.6.
Researchers project that as many as 1,779 annual heat - related deaths could be avoided if the climate adheres to the more moderate of two greenhouse gas trajectories — known
as representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5.
Seven global vegetation models are used to analyze possible responses to future climate simulated by a range of general circulation models run under all four
representative concentration pathway scenarios of changing concentrations of greenhouse gases.
When taken with a rate of sea - level rise of 2.9 ± 0.4 mm / y (epoch 2005.0), the extrapolation of the quadratic gives 654 ± 119 mm of sea - level rise by 2100 relative to 2005, which is similar to the processed - based model projections of sea level
for representative concentration pathways 8.5 in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (24).
The INDC scenarios fall in the middle of the range defined
by Representative Concentration Pathway RCP4.5, corresponding to a likelihood of «staying below 3 °C over the 21st century» of «likely» and «more likely than not.»
We find, when all seven models are considered for one
representative concentration pathway × general circulation model combination, such uncertainties explain 30 % more variation in modeled vegetation carbon change than responses of net primary productivity alone, increasing to 151 % for non-HYBRID4 models.
Despite the inevitable uncertainty affecting climatic projections, an increasing number of scientific studies suggest that global warming will exceed 2 °C and range up to 6 °C by the end of the century (Betts et al. 2011; Friedlingstein et al. 2014),
following Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) with radiative forcing up to 8.5 W / m2.
The projected 2081 - 2100 range of
even Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 — an emissions scenario which we are currently exceeding greatly, and the mildest one barring the sort active drawdown just mentioned — is 1.1 to 2.6 C, with a mean of 1.8 C.
The climate projections show on this map are based
on Representative Concentration Pathway 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 (van Vuuren et al., 2012) experiments run by global climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) exercise (Taylor et al., 2012).
The recent projections, from the IPCCs
AR5 representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 (which we use here, see Methods), very closely resemble quadratic curves and have near constant accelerations of ~ 0.064, 0.096 and 0.136 mm per year2 over the period 1990 — 2100, for the lower, central and upper projection range, respectively.
Carbon dioxide emissions pathways defined in, or derived from, the original set
of Representative Concentration pathways (RCPs), for the global total carbon dioxide emissions as well as for the carbon dioxide emissions attributable to U.S. electricity production.
This enabled the team to estimate how temperature - related mortality rates will change under alternative scenarios of climate change, defined by the four
Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for climate modelling and research in 2014.
In using the model to assess the ocean - carbon sink, the researchers assumed a «business as usual» carbon dioxide emissions trajectory,
the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 scenario found in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for 2006 - 2010, where emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century.
The scenarios can be grouped according to which of the four
Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) they are most similar to, based on peak concentration of greenhouse gases.
The IPCC have developed four possible future emissions targets: the so - called
Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP).
Continued use of fossil fuels into the 21st century is predicted to lead to atmospheric CO2 levels > 900 ppm by 2100 (under
Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5; Meinshausen et al., 2011), though the precise level is highly dependent on the emission scenario (Pachauri et al., 2014).
Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) make different assumptions about energy sources, population growth, economic activities, and technological advancements.
These projections are based on
Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 and 8.5 (van Vuuren et al., 2012) experiments run by global climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) exercise (Taylor et al., 2012).
For example, in our interview I called the IPCC 8.5 RCP (
Representative Concentration Pathways) the worst case scenario, which we are currently heading straight for with current emissions.
RCP (
representative concentration pathways) Imagined plausible trends in greenhouse gas emissions and resulting concentrations in the atmosphere used in climate projection models.
Here, we simulate global and regional responses to alkalinity (ALK) addition (0.25 PmolALK yr − 1) over the period 2020 — 2100 using the CSIRO - Mk3L - COAL Earth System Model, under high (
Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5; RCP8.5) and low (RCP2.6) emissions.
Based on results from large ensemble simulations with the Community Earth System Model, we show that internal variability alone leads to a prediction uncertainty of about two decades, while scenario uncertainty between the strong (
Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5) and medium (RCP4.5) forcing scenarios [possible paths for greenhouse gas emissions] adds at least another 5 years.
Specifically, the three IPCC scenarios we examined were
the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) named RCP4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP8.5.