Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2012/s25/3/2/solution

The term is the effective atmospheric addition from ongoing emissions. Its coefficient is about half the full-retention estimate , so the model implicitly removes or partitions some emitted carbon promptly. The term represents slower net uptake of the excess by other reservoirs; its relaxation time is years. Both terms have units of ppmv per year.
Thousands of years at constant erase the initial transient, giving
The reference is the zero-anthropogenic-emission equilibrium, not the equilibrium when the stated small persistent emissions are present.

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