TY  - JOUR
AU  - Diallo, M.
AU  - Ploeger, F.
AU  - Konopka, P.
AU  - Birner, T.
AU  - Müller, R.
AU  - Riese, M.
AU  - Garny, H.
AU  - Legras, B.
AU  - Ray, E.
AU  - Berthet, G.
AU  - Jegou, F.
TI  - Significant contributions of volcanic aerosols to decadal changes in the stratospheric circulation
JO  - Geophysical research letters
VL  - 44
IS  - 20
SN  - 0094-8276
CY  - Hoboken, NJ
PB  - Wiley
M1  - FZJ-2017-07026
SP  - 10,780–10,791
PY  - 2017
AB  - The stratospheric circulation is an important element of climate as it determines the concentration of radiatively active species like water vapour 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 focussing on the Mt. 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.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000416761600080
DO  - DOI:10.1002/2017GL074662
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/838417
ER  -