Mills, MJ, Schmidt, A orcid.org/0000-0001-8759-2843, Easter, R et al. (8 more authors) (2016) Global volcanic aerosol properties derived from emissions, 1990-2014, using CESM1(WACCM). Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121 (5). pp. 2332-2348. ISSN 2169-897X
Abstract
Accurate representation of global stratospheric aerosols from volcanic and non-volcanic sulfur emissions is key to understanding the cooling effects and ozone-losses that may be linked to volcanic activity. Attribution of climate variability to volcanic activity is of particular interest in relation to the post-2000 slowing in the rate of global average temperature increases. We have compiled a database of volcanic SO2 emissions and plume altitudes for eruptions from 1990 to 2014, and developed a new prognostic capability for simulating stratospheric sulfate aerosols in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We used these combined with other non-volcanic emissions of sulfur sources to reconstruct global aerosol properties from 1990 to 2014. Our calculations show remarkable agreement with ground-based lidar observations of stratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD), and with in situ measurements of stratospheric aerosol surface area density (SAD). These properties are key parameters in calculating the radiative and chemical effects of stratospheric aerosols. Our SAOD calculations represent a clear improvement over available satellite-based analyses, which generally ignore aerosol extinction below 15 km, a region that can contain the vast majority of stratospheric aerosol extinction at mid- and high-latitudes. Our SAD calculations greatly improve on that provided for the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative, which misses about 60% of the SAD measured in situ on average during both volcanically active and volcanically quiescent periods.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016, American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | aerosol; climate; stratosphere; volcanoes; radiative forcing; ozone loss |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Astrophysics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC No External Ref NERC NE/N006038/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Feb 2016 11:32 |
Last Modified: | 15 Apr 2019 12:16 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024290 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2015JD024290 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:95072 |