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Abstract
This paper extends the stochastic DSICE model of Cai et al. (Cai
et al. 2015a, 2015b) to include the case of spatial transport of heat
and moisture from the Equator to the Poles. This well-known and
important phenomenon in climate science has been neglected in popular
IAM’s, e.g. RICE and DICE (Nordhaus 2010, 2013). Spatial
transport leads to another well-known phenomenon in climate science
called polar amplification where a one degree increase in the global
yearly mean temperature anomaly causes a more than one degree increase
of the yearly mean temperature anomaly in the high latitudes
(Langen and Alexeev 2007). This extension allows us to compare the
optimal paths of key quantities like the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC),
emissions, abatement, and damages and their uncertainty bands when heat and moisture transport are neglected as in the received literature
on IAMs to when this important phenomenon documented by climate
science is included. We view our paper as a first step towards adding
additional aspects of climate dynamics like heat and moisture transport
across latitudes and polar amplification to the existing literature
on IAMs.