Revisiting the observed surface climate response to large volcanic eruptions

Wunderlich, Fabian; Mitchell, Daniel M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-485-2017

Articles | Volume 17, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-485-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

The SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) (ACP/ESSD...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-485-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 1

Research article

|

11 Jan 2017

Research article |

| 11 Jan 2017

Revisiting the observed surface climate response to large volcanic eruptions

Fabian Wunderlich and Daniel M. Mitchell

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-485-2017-supplement

Data sets

HadSLP2 Met Office Hadley Centre http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadslp2/data/download.html

HadCRUT4 Met Office Hadley Centre http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcrut4/data/current/download.html

ERA-Interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/

ERA-40 European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/

ERA-20C European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/

Japanese 25-year Reanalysis Project Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds625.0/#!access

Japanese 55-year Reanalysis Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds628.0/#!access

Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) https://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/mdisc

NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis 1 NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis.html

NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds093.1/#!access

NCEP-DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2) NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html

NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis version 2c NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/20thC_Rean/

Community Climate System Model Version 4 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/search/cmip5/

Community Atmospheric Model version 5 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/search/cmip5/

CSIRO Mk3.6.0 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/search/cmip5/

GFDL Global Coupled Model CM3 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/search/cmip5/

GISS-E2 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/search/cmip5/

Download

Article (5548 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

Large volcanic eruptions can eject aerosols into the stratosphere and prevent UV radiation reaching the surface, resulting in surface cooling. A secondary, non-linear effect occurs at high latitudes. While the surface cooling is robust in observations, we show that the non-linear, high-latitude effect is less robust. Climate models have failures at reproducing both aspects, probably because of aliasing with other climate modes and overrepresentation of stratospheric aerosol.