GCM simulations of volcanic aerosol forcing. Part I: Climate changes induced by stead-state perturbations
- NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (United States)
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, New York, NY (United States)
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies Climate Model II was used to simulate the response of the climate system to a spatially and temporally constant forcing by volcanic aerosols. The climatic changes produced by differencing this simulation and one made for the present climate with no volcanic aerosol forcing. These climatic changes are also compared with those obtained when CO[sub 2] in the atmosphere was doubled and when the boundary conditions associated with the peak of the last ice age. In all three cases, the absolute magnitude of the change in the globally averaged air temperature at the surface is approximately 5K. The simulations imply a significant cooling of the troposphere and surface can occur at times of closely spaced, multiple, sulfur-rich volcanic explosions that span time scales of decades to centuries, such as occurred at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The steady-state climate response to volcanic forcing includes a expansion of sea ice, especially Southern Hemisphere; a large increase in surface and planetary albedo at high latitudes; and sizable changes in the annually and zonally averaged air temperature. The climate response to three different forcings is similar in 3 ways: direct radiative forcing accounts for 30% and 25% of the total [delta]T[sub s]; Changes in atmospheric water vapor are the most important positive feedback; Albedo feedback is significant, positive at high latitudes. The climate response to the three forcings also differs. The latitudinal profiles of [delta]T[sub s] differ, reflecting significant variations in the latitudinal profiles of the primary radiative forcing. Changes in eddy kinetic energy, heat transport by atmospheric eddies, and total atmospheric heat transport are quite different. These results raise questions about the ease with which atmospheric heat transport can be parameterized in a simple way in energy climate models. 44 refs., 32 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 5705276
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Climate; (United States), Vol. 6:9; ISSN 0894-8755
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Transient response of the Hadley Centre coupled ocean-atmosphere model to increasing carbon dioxide. Part 3: Analysis of global-mean response using simple models
Source attribution of Arctic black carbon and sulfate aerosols and associated Arctic surface warming during 1980–2018
Related Subjects
CLIMATIC CHANGE
GLOBAL ASPECTS
VOLCANIC GASES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
VOLCANOES
AEROSOLS
ALBEDO
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATE MODELS
COOLING
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPLOSIONS
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
HEAT
ICE
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
STRATOSPHERE
SULFUR
TROPOSPHERE
WATER VAPOR
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH PLANET
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
FLUIDS
GASES
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NONMETALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANETS
SOLS
VAPORS
540110*