Articles | Volume 24, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7203-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7203-2024
Research article
 | 
24 Jun 2024
Research article |  | 24 Jun 2024

Why does stratospheric aerosol forcing strongly cool the warm pool?

Moritz Günther, Hauke Schmidt, Claudia Timmreck, and Matthew Toohey

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Cited articles

Abalos, M., Legras, B., Ploeger, F., and Randel, W. J.: Evaluating the advective Brewer-Dobson circulation in three reanalyses for the period 1979–2012, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 7534–7554, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023182, 2015. a
Aquila, V., Oman, L. D., Stolarski, R., Douglass, A. R., and Newman, P. A.: The Response of Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide to the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo at Southern and Northern Midlatitudes, J. Atmos. Sci., 70, 894–900, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-12-0143.1, 2013. a
Azoulay, A., Schmidt, H., and Timmreck, C.: The Arctic Polar Vortex Response to Volcanic Forcing of Different Strengths, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e2020JD034450, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034450, 2021. a
Birner, T. and Charlesworth, E. J.: On the relative importance of radiative and dynamical heating for tropical tropopause temperatures, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 6782–6797, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD026445, 2017. a, b
Bittner, M., Schmidt, H., Timmreck, C., and Sienz, F.: Using a large ensemble of simulations to assess the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric dynamical response to tropical volcanic eruptions and its uncertainty, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 9324–9332, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070587, 2016. a
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Short summary
Stratospheric aerosol has been shown to cause pronounced cooling in the tropical Indian and western Pacific oceans. Using a climate model, we show that this arises from enhanced meridional energy export via the stratosphere. The aerosol causes stratospheric heating and thus an acceleration of the Brewer–Dobson circulation that accomplishes this transport. Our findings highlight the importance of circulation adjustments and surface perspectives on forcing for understanding temperature responses.
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