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Significant Contributions of Volcanic Aerosols to Decadal Changes in the Stratospheric Circulation
Author(s) -
Diallo M.,
Ploeger F.,
Konopka P.,
Birner T.,
Müller R.,
Riese M.,
Garny H.,
Legras B.,
Ray E.,
Berthet G.,
Jegou F.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl074662
Subject(s) - volcano , climatology , environmental science , extratropical cyclone , atmospheric sciences , stratosphere , general circulation model , aerosol , climate model , atmospheric circulation , tropopause , climate change , geology , meteorology , geography , oceanography , seismology
The stratospheric circulation is an important element of climate as it determines the concentration of radiatively active species like water vapor and aerosol above the tropopause. Climate models predict that increasing greenhouse gas levels speed up the stratospheric circulation. However, these results have been challenged by observational estimates of the circulation strength, constituting an uncertainty in current climate simulations. Here, we quantify the effect of volcanic aerosol on the stratospheric circulation focusing on the Mount Pinatubo eruption and discussing further the minor extratropical volcanic eruptions after 2008. We show that the observed pattern of decadal circulation change over the past decades is substantially driven by volcanic aerosol injections. Thus, climate model simulations need to realistically take into account the effect of volcanic eruptions, including the minor eruptions after 2008, for a reliable reproduction of observed stratospheric circulation changes.