The impact of volcanic aerosol on the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex: mechanisms and sensitivity to forcing structure

Toohey, M.; Krüger, K.; Bittner, M.; Timmreck, C.; Schmidt, H.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13063-2014

Articles | Volume 14, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13063-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13063-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 23

Research article

|

09 Dec 2014

Research article |

| 09 Dec 2014

The impact of volcanic aerosol on the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex: mechanisms and sensitivity to forcing structure

M. Toohey, K. Krüger, M. Bittner, C. Timmreck, and H. Schmidt

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Final revised paper (published on 09 Dec 2014)
Preprint (discussion started on 25 Jun 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C4917: 'Too small ensembles?', Anonymous Referee #2, 15 Jul 2014
- AC C8505: 'Reply to Rev 2', Matthew Toohey, 27 Oct 2014
RC C5280: 'referee review', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Jul 2014
- AC C8516: 'Reply to Rev 1', Matthew Toohey, 27 Oct 2014

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Matthew Toohey on behalf of the Authors (29 Oct 2014) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (03 Nov 2014) by Quentin Errera

Short summary

Earth system model simulations are used to investigate the impact of volcanic aerosol forcing on stratospheric dynamics, e.g. the Northern Hemisphere (NH) polar vortex. We find that mechanisms linking aerosol heating and high-latitude dynamics are not as direct as often assumed; high-latitude effects result from changes in stratospheric circulation and related vertical motions. The simulated responses also show evidence of being sensitive to the structure of the volcanic forcing used.