The economics of the thermohaline circulation-A problem with multiple thresholds of unknown locations

Eric Nævdal; Michael Oppenheimer

doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2007.01.003

The economics of the thermohaline circulation-A problem with multiple thresholds of unknown locations

Eric Nævdal, Michael Oppenheimer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

A potentially serious environmental threat facing humanity is the possibility of a collapse of the thermohaline circulation. Resulting climate changes, including absolute cooling near Greenland and northwest Europe, could be abrupt. Collapse of the thermohaline circulation may be triggered if the temperature or the rate of temperature change exceeds certain thresholds. The locations of these thresholds are unknown. Economic regulation of this problem requires solution methods for a class of dynamic optimization problems with multiple thresholds located in n-dimensional space. This class of problems has hitherto not been discussed in the literature. We present a model for the economic regulation of CO₂ emissions in the presence of threshold-triggered risk of a collapsing thermohaline circulation and derive optimality conditions for regulation.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	262-283
Number of pages	22
Journal	Resource and Energy Economics
Volume	29
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2007.01.003
State	Published - Nov 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Economics and Econometrics

Keywords

Catastrophic risk
Climate change
Gulf stream
Optimal control
Thermohaline circulation
Threshold effects

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10.1016/j.reseneeco.2007.01.003

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title = "The economics of the thermohaline circulation-A problem with multiple thresholds of unknown locations",

abstract = "A potentially serious environmental threat facing humanity is the possibility of a collapse of the thermohaline circulation. Resulting climate changes, including absolute cooling near Greenland and northwest Europe, could be abrupt. Collapse of the thermohaline circulation may be triggered if the temperature or the rate of temperature change exceeds certain thresholds. The locations of these thresholds are unknown. Economic regulation of this problem requires solution methods for a class of dynamic optimization problems with multiple thresholds located in n-dimensional space. This class of problems has hitherto not been discussed in the literature. We present a model for the economic regulation of CO2 emissions in the presence of threshold-triggered risk of a collapsing thermohaline circulation and derive optimality conditions for regulation.",

keywords = "Catastrophic risk, Climate change, Gulf stream, Optimal control, Thermohaline circulation, Threshold effects",

author = "Eric N{\ae}vdal and Michael Oppenheimer",

note = "Funding Information: This paper was in part written while Eric N{\ae}vdal was a post-doctoral fellow at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. Funding from the Princeton Carbon Mitigation Initiative is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are grateful for comments from David Bradford, Tore Schweder, Atle Seierstad, Alexander Sigurdsson, Jon Vislie, Martin Wagner and an anonymous reviewer. ",

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doi = "10.1016/j.reseneeco.2007.01.003",

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AU - Nævdal, Eric

AU - Oppenheimer, Michael

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PY - 2007/11

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N2 - A potentially serious environmental threat facing humanity is the possibility of a collapse of the thermohaline circulation. Resulting climate changes, including absolute cooling near Greenland and northwest Europe, could be abrupt. Collapse of the thermohaline circulation may be triggered if the temperature or the rate of temperature change exceeds certain thresholds. The locations of these thresholds are unknown. Economic regulation of this problem requires solution methods for a class of dynamic optimization problems with multiple thresholds located in n-dimensional space. This class of problems has hitherto not been discussed in the literature. We present a model for the economic regulation of CO2 emissions in the presence of threshold-triggered risk of a collapsing thermohaline circulation and derive optimality conditions for regulation.

AB - A potentially serious environmental threat facing humanity is the possibility of a collapse of the thermohaline circulation. Resulting climate changes, including absolute cooling near Greenland and northwest Europe, could be abrupt. Collapse of the thermohaline circulation may be triggered if the temperature or the rate of temperature change exceeds certain thresholds. The locations of these thresholds are unknown. Economic regulation of this problem requires solution methods for a class of dynamic optimization problems with multiple thresholds located in n-dimensional space. This class of problems has hitherto not been discussed in the literature. We present a model for the economic regulation of CO2 emissions in the presence of threshold-triggered risk of a collapsing thermohaline circulation and derive optimality conditions for regulation.

KW - Catastrophic risk

KW - Climate change

KW - Gulf stream

KW - Optimal control

KW - Thermohaline circulation

KW - Threshold effects

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JO - Resource and Energy Economics

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ER -

The economics of the thermohaline circulation-A problem with multiple thresholds of unknown locations

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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