Modulation of the northern polar vortex by the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and the associated surface response

Kuchar, Ales; Sukhodolov, Timofei; Chiodo, Gabriel; Jörimann, Andrin; Kult-Herdin, Jessica; Rozanov, Eugene; Rieder, Harald H.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3623-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3623-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3623-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 6

ACP Letters

| Highlight paper

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27 Mar 2025

ACP Letters | Highlight paper |

| 27 Mar 2025

Modulation of the northern polar vortex by the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and the associated surface response

Ales Kuchar, Timofei Sukhodolov, Gabriel Chiodo, Andrin Jörimann, Jessica Kult-Herdin, Eugene Rozanov, and Harald H. Rieder

Data sets

Accompanying data to "Modulation of the Northern polar vortex by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption and associated surface response" Ales Kuchar https://doi.org/10.17632/hb3whw3nfr.1

Reanalysis Intercomparison Dataset (RID) (https://www.jamstec.go.jp/ridinfo/) P. Martineau https://www.jamstec.go.jp/RID/thredds/catalog/catalog.html

SWOOSH: Stratospheric Water and OzOne Satellite Homogenized data set S. Davis https://csl.noaa.gov/groups/csl8/swoosh/

MERRA-2 Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura MLS (M2-SCREAM) NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://acdisc.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/opendap/hyrax/M2SCREAM/GMAO_M2SCREAM_INST3_CHEM.1/

Global Satellite-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology NASA Langley Research Center's (LaRC) ASDC DAAC https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/GloSSAC

REMAP-HT-MOC: Stratospheric aerosol data for use in HT-MOC models A. Jörimann https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000713396

Model code and software

First release of our code repository related to HTHH (v1.0.2) Ales Kuchar https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14743768

Executive editor

The explosive Hunga Tonga eruption in 2022 had several characteristics that are unique in the recent observational record. Its effects on the atmosphere are of great scientific interest and have included rapidly propagating patterns of Lamb and gravity waves and long-lived anomalies in stratospheric water vapour. This modelling study demonstrates how, through a coupled sequence of chemical, radiative and dynamical mechanisms, the additional water vapour in the tropical upper stratosphere is likely to have had a significant effect on the wintertime circulation of the stratosphere and hence the troposphere in Northern Hemisphere mid- and high latitudes. These results on the fascinating Hunga Tonga event have wider relevance to perturbations of the climate system where the initial impact is stratospheric but important secondary effects are felt elsewhere, including at the surface.