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Role of atmospheric chemistry in the climate impacts of stratospheric volcanic injections

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 652–655 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The climate impact of a volcanic eruption is known to be dependent on the size, location and timing of the eruption. However, the chemistry and composition of the volcanic plume also control its impact on climate. It is not just sulfur dioxide gas, but also the coincident emissions of water, halogens and ash that influence the radiative and climate forcing of an eruption. Improvements in the capability of models to capture aerosol microphysics, and the inclusion of chemistry and aerosol microphysics modules in Earth system models, allow us to evaluate the interaction of composition and chemistry within volcanic plumes in a new way. These modelling efforts also illustrate the role of water vapour in controlling the chemical evolution — and hence climate impacts — of the plume. A growing realization of the importance of the chemical composition of volcanic plumes is leading to a more sophisticated and realistic representation of volcanic forcing in climate simulations, which in turn aids in reconciling simulations and proxy reconstructions of the climate impacts of past volcanic eruptions. More sophisticated simulations are expected to help, eventually, with predictions of the impact on the Earth system of any future large volcanic eruptions.

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Figure 1: Volcanic water in the stratosphere alters aerosol evolution.
Figure 2: Evolution of stratospheric global-mean aerosol optical depth following a volcanic eruption.

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Acknowledgements

We thank NASA GISS for institutional support. We also thank the NASA MAP programme for continued support. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at Goddard Space Flight Center.

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Author notes

  1. kostas.tsigaridis@columbia.edu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York, USA

    Allegra N. LeGrande, Kostas Tsigaridis & Susanne E. Bauer

  2. Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York, USA

    Kostas Tsigaridis & Susanne E. Bauer

Authors
  1. Allegra N. LeGrande
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  3. Susanne E. Bauer
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Contributions

A.N.L. was inspired to seek out better aerosol microphysics modules by the mismatches of simulated and inferred climate impacts for volcanoes in the CMIP5/PMIP3 last millennium experiment. A.N.L. and K.T. conceived the work, performed the model simulations and analysed the results. All authors contributed to the text and the design of figures. K.T. and S.E.B. contributed expertise with the MATRIX model.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Allegra N. LeGrande or Kostas Tsigaridis.

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LeGrande, A., Tsigaridis, K. & Bauer, S. Role of atmospheric chemistry in the climate impacts of stratospheric volcanic injections. Nature Geosci 9, 652–655 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2771

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