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Persistent Stratospheric Warming Due to 2019–2020 Australian Wildfire Smoke
Author(s) -
Yu Pengfei,
Davis Sean M.,
Toon Owen B.,
Portmann Robert W.,
Bardeen Charles G.,
Barnes John E.,
Telg Hagen,
Maloney Christopher,
Rosenlof Karen H.
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2021gl092609
Subject(s) - stratosphere , radiative forcing , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , southern hemisphere , smoke , atmosphere (unit) , plume , sulfate aerosol , climatology , middle latitudes , northern hemisphere , latitude , troposphere , forcing (mathematics) , aerosol , ozone depletion , meteorology , geology , physics , geodesy
Australian wildfires burning from December 2019 to January 2020 injected approximately 0.9 Tg of smoke into the stratosphere; this is the largest amount observed in the satellite era. A comparison of numerical simulations to satellite observations of the plume rise suggests that the smoke mass contained 2.5% black carbon. Model calculations project a 1 K warming in the stratosphere of the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes for more than 6 months following the injection of black‐carbon containing smoke. The 2020 average global mean clear sky effective radiative forcing at top of atmosphere is estimated to be −0.03 W m −2 with a surface value of −0.32 W m −2 . Assuming that smoke particles coat with sulfuric acid in the stratosphere and have similar heterogeneous reaction rates as sulfate aerosol, we estimate a smoke‐induced chemical decrease in total column ozone of 10–20 Dobson units from August to December in mid‐high southern latitudes.