Articles | Volume 12, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2843-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2843-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description paper
| 
14 Nov 2020
Data description paper |
| 14 Nov 2020
| 14 Nov 2020
Shipborne lidar measurements showing the progression of the tropical reservoir of volcanic aerosol after the June 1991 Pinatubo eruption
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Grupo de Óptica Atmosférica, Departamento de Física
Teórica, Atómica y Óptica, Universidad de Valladolid, 47002,
Valladolid, Spain
Graham W. Mann
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS-Climate), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Philippe Keckhut
Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales,
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Versailles, 78280, France
Sergey Avdyushin
Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics, Moscow, Russia
deceased
Bruno Nardi
Nardi Scientific, LLC, Denver, CO 80238, USA
Larry W. Thomason
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681-2199, USA
Related authors
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero, Graham W. Mann, John Barnes, Abel Calle, Sandip S. Dhomse, Victoria E. Cachorro-Revilla, Terry Deshler, Li Zhengyao, Nimmi Sharma, and Louis Elterman
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-272, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-272, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Tropospheric and stratospheric aerosol extinction profiles observations from a searchlight at New Mexico, US, were rescued and re-calibrated. Spanning between December 1963 and 1964, they measured the volcanic aerosols from the 1963 Agung eruption. Contemporary and state of the art information were used in the re-calibration. A unique and until the present forgotten/ignored dataset, it contributes current observational and modelling research on the impact of major volcanic eruptions on climate.
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero, Graham W. Mann, John Barnes, Albeht Rodríguez-Vega, Sarah Shallcross, Sandip S. Dhomse, Giorgio Fiocco, and Gerald W. Grams
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4407–4423, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4407-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The first multi-year stratospheric aerosol lidar dataset was recovered and recalibrated. The vertical profile dataset, January 1964 to August 1965 at Lexington, MA, and July to August 1964 at Fairbanks, AK, provides info on volcanic forcing after the 1963 Agung eruption. Applying two-way transmittance correction to the original dataset reveals data variations, with corrected stratospheric aerosol optical depth (sAOD) highest in 1965 with the highest 532 nm sAOD peak at 0.07 in March 1965.
Sandip S. Dhomse, Graham W. Mann, Juan Carlos Antuña Marrero, Sarah E. Shallcross, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Kenneth S. Carslaw, Lauren Marshall, N. Luke Abraham, and Colin E. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13627–13654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13627-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13627-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We confirm downward adjustment of SO2 emission to simulate the Pinatubo aerosol cloud with aerosol microphysics models. Similar adjustment is also needed to simulate the El Chichón and Agung volcanic cloud, indicating potential missing removal or vertical redistribution process in models. Important inhomogeneities in the CMIP6 forcing datasets after Agung and El Chichón eruptions are difficult to reconcile. Quasi-biennial oscillation plays an important role in modifying stratospheric warming.
Andrin Jörimann, Timofei Sukhodolov, Beiping Luo, Gabriel Chiodo, Graham Mann, and Thomas Peter
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 6023–6041, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6023-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6023-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol particles in the stratosphere affect our climate. Climate models therefore need an accurate description of their properties and evolution. Satellites measure how strongly aerosol particles extinguish light passing through the stratosphere. We describe a method to use such aerosol extinction data to retrieve the number and sizes of the aerosol particles and calculate their optical effects. The resulting data sets for models are validated against ground-based and balloon observations.
Ilaria Quaglia, Daniele Visioni, Ewa M. Bednarz, Yunqian Zhu, Georgiy Stenchikov, Valentina Aquila, Cheng-Cheng Liu, Graham W. Mann, Yifeng Peng, Takashi Sekiya, Simone Tilmes, Xinyue Wang, Shingo Watanabe, Pengfei Yu, Jun Zhang, and Wandi Yu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3769, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3769, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga volcano eruption released unprecedented amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere alongside a modest amount of SO2. In this work we analyse results from multiple Earth system models. The models agree that the eruption led to small negative radiative forcing from sulfate aerosols and that the contribution from water vapor was minimal. Therefore, the Hunga eruption cannot explain the exceptional surface warming observed in 2023.
Yunqian Zhu, Hideharu Akiyoshi, Valentina Aquila, Elizabeth Asher, Ewa M. Bednarz, Slimane Bekki, Christoph Brühl, Amy H. Butler, Parker Case, Simon Chabrillat, Gabriel Chiodo, Margot Clyne, Peter R. Colarco, Sandip Dhomse, Lola Falletti, Eric Fleming, Ben Johnson, Andrin Jörimann, Mahesh Kovilakam, Gerbrand Koren, Ales Kuchar, Nicolas Lebas, Qing Liang, Cheng-Cheng Liu, Graham Mann, Michael Manyin, Marion Marchand, Olaf Morgenstern, Paul Newman, Luke D. Oman, Freja F. Østerstrøm, Yifeng Peng, David Plummer, Ilaria Quaglia, William Randel, Samuel Rémy, Takashi Sekiya, Stephen Steenrod, Timofei Sukhodolov, Simone Tilmes, Kostas Tsigaridis, Rei Ueyama, Daniele Visioni, Xinyue Wang, Shingo Watanabe, Yousuke Yamashita, Pengfei Yu, Wandi Yu, Jun Zhang, and Zhihong Zhuo
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 5487–5512, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-5487-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-5487-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
To understand the climate impact of the 2022 Hunga volcanic eruption, we developed a climate model–observation comparison project. The paper describes the protocols and models that participate in the experiments. We designed several experiments to achieve our goals of this activity: (1) to evaluate the climate model performance and (2) to understand the Earth system responses to this eruption.
Samuel Trémoulu, Fabrice Chane Ming, Sitraka Fabrice Raharimanjato, Alain Hauchecorne, Sergey Khaykin, and Philippe Keckhut
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3719, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3719, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a new method to better detect and study small-scale gravity waves in the middle atmosphere using lidar data. This technique more clearly reveals wave patterns than older methods and gives more accurate energy estimates, especially high up near the stratopause. Our approach helps scientists understand how these waves behave and interact across different scales, improving knowledge of atmospheric dynamics.
Nicholas Ernest, Larry W. Thomason, and Terry Deshler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2957–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use balloon-borne measurements of aerosol size distribution (ASD) made by the University of Wyoming (UW) to derive distributions which are representative of the ASDs that underlie measurements made by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II). A simple single-mode log-normal distribution has in the past been used to derive ASD from SAGE II data; here we derive bimodal log-normal distributions, reproducing median aerosol properties measured by UW.
Felix Wrana, Terry Deshler, Christian Löns, Larry W. Thomason, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3717–3736, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3717-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3717-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
There is a natural and globally occurring layer of small droplets (aerosols) at roughly 20 km altitude in the atmosphere. In this work, the size of these droplets is calculated from satellite measurements for the years 2002 to 2005, which is important for the aerosol cooling effect on Earth's climate. These years are interesting because there were no large volcanic eruptions that would change the background state of the aerosols. The results are compared to reliable balloon-borne measurements.
Mathieu Ratynski, Sergey Khaykin, Alain Hauchecorne, Joan Alexander, Alexis Mariaccia, Philippe Keckhut, and Antoine Mangin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-394, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-394, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates how tropical convection generates gravity waves, which play a key role in transporting energy across the atmosphere. By combining Aeolus satellite data with ERA5 reanalysis data and radio-occultation measurements, we identified significant wave activity overlooked by ERA5, particularly over the Indian Ocean. Aeolus fills major gaps in wind data, offering a clearer picture of wave dynamics and challenging assumptions about their behavior, improving climate models.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry W. Thomason, Magali Verkerk, Thomas Aubry, and Travis N. Knepp
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 535–553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-535-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-535-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC) is essential for understanding and modeling the climatic impacts of stratospheric aerosols, comprising data from various space-based measurements. Here, we examine the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) against other data sets, particularly the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III/ISS, to discern differences and explore the applicability of OMPS data within the GloSSAC framework.
Nelson Bègue, Alexandre Baron, Gisèle Krysztofiak, Gwenaël Berthet, Corinna Kloss, Fabrice Jégou, Sergey Khaykin, Marion Ranaivombola, Tristan Millet, Thierry Portafaix, Valentin Duflot, Philippe Keckhut, Hélène Vérèmes, Guillaume Payen, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Pierre-François Coheur, Cathy Clerbaux, Michaël Sicard, Tetsu Sakai, Richard Querel, Ben Liley, Dan Smale, Isamu Morino, Osamu Uchino, Tomohiro Nagai, Penny Smale, John Robinson, and Hassan Bencherif
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8031–8048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8031-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8031-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During the 2020 austral summer, the pristine atmosphere of the southwest Indian Ocean basin experienced significant perturbations. Numerical models indicated that the lower-stratospheric aerosol content was influenced by the intense and persistent stratospheric aerosol layer generated during the 2019–2020 extreme Australian bushfire events. Ground-based observations at Réunion confirmed the simultaneous presence of African and Australian aerosol layers.
Robert P. Damadeo, Viktoria F. Sofieva, Alexei Rozanov, and Larry W. Thomason
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3669–3678, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3669-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3669-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Comparing different aerosol data sets for scientific studies often requires converting aerosol extinction data between different wavelengths. A common approximation for the spectral behavior of aerosol is the Ångström formula; however, this introduces biases. Using measurements across many different wavelengths from a single instrument, we derive an empirical relationship to both characterize this bias and offer a correction for other studies that may employ this analysis approach.
Jean-Paul Vernier, Thomas J. Aubry, Claudia Timmreck, Anja Schmidt, Lieven Clarisse, Fred Prata, Nicolas Theys, Andrew T. Prata, Graham Mann, Hyundeok Choi, Simon Carn, Richard Rigby, Susan C. Loughlin, and John A. Stevenson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5765–5782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5765-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The 2019 Raikoke eruption (Kamchatka, Russia) generated one of the largest emissions of particles and gases into the stratosphere since the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The Volcano Response (VolRes) initiative, an international effort, provided a platform for the community to share information about this eruption and assess its climate impact. The eruption led to a minor global surface cooling of 0.02 °C in 2020 which is negligible relative to warming induced by human greenhouse gas emissions.
Christina V. Brodowsky, Timofei Sukhodolov, Gabriel Chiodo, Valentina Aquila, Slimane Bekki, Sandip S. Dhomse, Michael Höpfner, Anton Laakso, Graham W. Mann, Ulrike Niemeier, Giovanni Pitari, Ilaria Quaglia, Eugene Rozanov, Anja Schmidt, Takashi Sekiya, Simone Tilmes, Claudia Timmreck, Sandro Vattioni, Daniele Visioni, Pengfei Yu, Yunqian Zhu, and Thomas Peter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5513–5548, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5513-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5513-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The aerosol layer is an essential part of the climate system. We characterize the sulfur budget in a volcanically quiescent (background) setting, with a special focus on the sulfate aerosol layer using, for the first time, a multi-model approach. The aim is to identify weak points in the representation of the atmospheric sulfur budget in an intercomparison of nine state-of-the-art coupled global circulation models.
Travis N. Knepp, Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry Thomason, and Stephen J. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2025–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An algorithm is presented to derive a new SAGE III/ISS (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station) Level-2 product: the size distribution of stratospheric particles. This is a significant improvement over previous techniques in that we now provide uncertainty estimates for all inferred parameters. We also evaluated the stability of this method in retrieving bimodal distribution parameters. We present a special application to the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga.
Larry W. Thomason and Travis Knepp
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10361–10381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10361-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10361-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We examine space-based observations of stratospheric aerosol to infer the presence of episodic smoke perturbations. We find that smoke's optical properties often show a consistent behavior but vary somewhat from event to event. We also find that the rate of smoke events observed in the 1984–2005 period is about half the rate of similar observations in the period from 2017 to the present; however, with such low overall rates, inferring change between the periods is difficult.
Felix Wrana, Ulrike Niemeier, Larry W. Thomason, Sandra Wallis, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9725–9743, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9725-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9725-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The stratospheric aerosol layer is a naturally occurring and permanent layer of aerosol, in this case very small droplets of mostly sulfuric acid and water, that has a cooling effect on our climate. To quantify this effect and for our general understanding of stratospheric microphysical processes, knowledge of the size of those aerosol particles is needed. Using satellite measurements and atmospheric models we show that some volcanic eruptions can lead to on average smaller aerosol sizes.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry Thomason, and Travis Knepp
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2709–2731, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2709-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2709-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes SAGE III/ISS aerosol/cloud categorization and its implications on Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC). The presence of data from the SAGE type of multi-wavelength measurements is important in GloSSAC. The new aerosol/cloud categorization method described in this paper will help retain more measurements, particularly in the lower stratosphere during and following a volcanic event and other processes.
Alexander D. James, Finn Pace, Sebastien N. F. Sikora, Graham W. Mann, John M. C. Plane, and Benjamin J. Murray
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2215–2233, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2215-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2215-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we examine whether several materials of meteoric origin can nucleate crystallisation in stratospheric cloud droplets which would affect ozone depletion. We find that material which could fragment on atmospheric entry without melting is unlikely to be present in high enough concentration in the stratosphere to contribute to observed crystalline clouds. Material which ablates completely then forms a new solid known as meteoric smoke can provide enough nucleation to explain observed clouds.
Ilaria Quaglia, Claudia Timmreck, Ulrike Niemeier, Daniele Visioni, Giovanni Pitari, Christina Brodowsky, Christoph Brühl, Sandip S. Dhomse, Henning Franke, Anton Laakso, Graham W. Mann, Eugene Rozanov, and Timofei Sukhodolov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 921–948, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-921-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-921-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The last very large explosive volcanic eruption we have measurements for is the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. It is therefore often used as a benchmark for climate models' ability to reproduce these kinds of events. Here, we compare available measurements with the results from multiple experiments conducted with climate models interactively simulating the aerosol cloud formation.
Florent Tencé, Julien Jumelet, Marie Bouillon, David Cugnet, Slimane Bekki, Sarah Safieddine, Philippe Keckhut, and Alain Sarkissian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 431–451, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-431-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-431-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are critical precursors to stratospheric ozone depletion, and measurement-driven classifications remain a key to accurate cloud modelling. We present PSC lidar observations conducted at the French Antarctic station Dumont d'Urville between 2007 and 2020. This dataset is analyzed using typical PSC classification schemes. We present a PSC climatology along with a significant and slightly negative 14-year trend of PSC occurences of −4.6 PSC days per decade.
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero, Graham W. Mann, John Barnes, Abel Calle, Sandip S. Dhomse, Victoria E. Cachorro-Revilla, Terry Deshler, Li Zhengyao, Nimmi Sharma, and Louis Elterman
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-272, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-272, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Tropospheric and stratospheric aerosol extinction profiles observations from a searchlight at New Mexico, US, were rescued and re-calibrated. Spanning between December 1963 and 1964, they measured the volcanic aerosols from the 1963 Agung eruption. Contemporary and state of the art information were used in the re-calibration. A unique and until the present forgotten/ignored dataset, it contributes current observational and modelling research on the impact of major volcanic eruptions on climate.
Travis N. Knepp, Larry Thomason, Mahesh Kovilakam, Jason Tackett, Jayanta Kar, Robert Damadeo, and David Flittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5235–5260, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5235-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We used aerosol profiles from the SAGE III/ISS instrument to develop an aerosol classification method that was tested on four case-study events (two volcanic, two fire) and supported with CALIOP aerosol products. The method worked well in identifying smoke and volcanic aerosol in the stratosphere for these events. Raikoke is presented as a demonstration of the limitations of this method.
Fernando Chouza, Thierry Leblanc, Mark Brewer, Patrick Wang, Giovanni Martucci, Alexander Haefele, Hélène Vérèmes, Valentin Duflot, Guillaume Payen, and Philippe Keckhut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4241–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4241-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The comparison of water vapor lidar measurements with co-located radiosondes and aerosol backscatter profiles indicates that laser-induced aerosol fluorescence in smoke layers injected into the stratosphere can introduce very large and chronic wet biases above 15 km, thus impacting the ability of these systems to accurately estimate long-term water vapor trends. The proposed correction method presented in this work is able to reduce this fluorescence-induced bias from 75 % to under 5 %.
Davide Zanchettin, Claudia Timmreck, Myriam Khodri, Anja Schmidt, Matthew Toohey, Manabu Abe, Slimane Bekki, Jason Cole, Shih-Wei Fang, Wuhu Feng, Gabriele Hegerl, Ben Johnson, Nicolas Lebas, Allegra N. LeGrande, Graham W. Mann, Lauren Marshall, Landon Rieger, Alan Robock, Sara Rubinetti, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Helen Weierbach
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2265–2292, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2265-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2265-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides metadata and first analyses of the volc-pinatubo-full experiment of CMIP6-VolMIP. Results from six Earth system models reveal significant differences in radiative flux anomalies that trace back to different implementations of volcanic forcing. Surface responses are in contrast overall consistent across models, reflecting the large spread due to internal variability. A second phase of VolMIP shall consider both aspects toward improved protocol for volc-pinatubo-full.
Sandip S. Dhomse, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Wuhu Feng, Ryan Hossaini, Graham W. Mann, Michelle L. Santee, and Mark Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 903–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-903-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-903-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Solar flux variations associated with 11-year sunspot cycle is believed to exert important external climate forcing. As largest variations occur at shorter wavelengths such as ultra-violet part of the solar spectrum, associated changes in stratospheric ozone are thought to provide direct evidence for solar climate interaction. Until now, most of the studies reported double-peak structured solar cycle signal (SCS), but relatively new satellite data suggest only single-peak-structured SCS.
Juan-Carlos Antuña-Marrero, Graham W. Mann, John Barnes, Albeht Rodríguez-Vega, Sarah Shallcross, Sandip S. Dhomse, Giorgio Fiocco, and Gerald W. Grams
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4407–4423, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4407-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The first multi-year stratospheric aerosol lidar dataset was recovered and recalibrated. The vertical profile dataset, January 1964 to August 1965 at Lexington, MA, and July to August 1964 at Fairbanks, AK, provides info on volcanic forcing after the 1963 Agung eruption. Applying two-way transmittance correction to the original dataset reveals data variations, with corrected stratospheric aerosol optical depth (sAOD) highest in 1965 with the highest 532 nm sAOD peak at 0.07 in March 1965.
Graeme Marlton, Andrew Charlton-Perez, Giles Harrison, Inna Polichtchouk, Alain Hauchecorne, Philippe Keckhut, Robin Wing, Thierry Leblanc, and Wolfgang Steinbrecht
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6079–6092, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6079-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A network of Rayleigh lidars have been used to infer the upper-stratosphere temperature bias in ECMWF ERA-5 and ERA-Interim reanalyses during 1990–2017. Results show that ERA-Interim exhibits a cold bias of −3 to −4 K between 10 and 1 hPa. Comparisons with ERA-5 found a smaller bias of 1 K which varies between cold and warm between 10 and 3 hPa, indicating a good thermal representation of the atmosphere to 3 hPa. These biases must be accounted for in stratospheric studies using these reanalyses.
Felix Wrana, Christian von Savigny, Jacob Zalach, and Larry W. Thomason
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2345–2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2345-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we describe a new method for calculating the size of naturally occurring droplets (aerosols) made mostly of sulfuric acid and water that can be found roughly at 20 km altitude in the atmosphere. We use data from the instrument SAGE III/ISS that is mounted on the International Space Station. We show that our method works well, and that the size parameters we calculate are reasonable and can be a valuable addition for a better understanding of aerosols and their effect on climate.
Margot Clyne, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Michael J. Mills, Myriam Khodri, William Ball, Slimane Bekki, Sandip S. Dhomse, Nicolas Lebas, Graham Mann, Lauren Marshall, Ulrike Niemeier, Virginie Poulain, Alan Robock, Eugene Rozanov, Anja Schmidt, Andrea Stenke, Timofei Sukhodolov, Claudia Timmreck, Matthew Toohey, Fiona Tummon, Davide Zanchettin, Yunqian Zhu, and Owen B. Toon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3317–3343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3317-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3317-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study finds how and why five state-of-the-art global climate models with interactive stratospheric aerosols differ when simulating the aftermath of large volcanic injections as part of the Model Intercomparison Project on the climatic response to Volcanic forcing (VolMIP). We identify and explain the consequences of significant disparities in the underlying physics and chemistry currently in some of the models, which are problems likely not unique to the models participating in this study.
Ghassan Taha, Robert Loughman, Tong Zhu, Larry Thomason, Jayanta Kar, Landon Rieger, and Adam Bourassa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1015–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1015-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1015-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This work describes the newly released OMPS LP aerosol extinction profile multi-wavelength Version 2.0 algorithm and dataset. It is shown that the V2.0 aerosols exhibit significant improvements in OMPS LP retrieval performance in the Southern Hemisphere and at lower altitudes. The new product is compared to the SAGE III/ISS, OSIRIS and CALIPSO missions and shown to be of good quality and suitable for scientific studies.
Larry W. Thomason, Mahesh Kovilakam, Anja Schmidt, Christian von Savigny, Travis Knepp, and Landon Rieger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1143–1158, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1143-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1143-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of the impact of volcanic eruptions on stratospheric aerosol loading by space-based instruments show show a fairly well-behaved relationship between the magnitude and the apparent changes to aerosol size over several orders of magnitude. This directly measured relationship provides a unique opportunity to verify the performance of interactive aerosol models used in climate models.
Jane P. Mulcahy, Colin Johnson, Colin G. Jones, Adam C. Povey, Catherine E. Scott, Alistair Sellar, Steven T. Turnock, Matthew T. Woodhouse, Nathan Luke Abraham, Martin B. Andrews, Nicolas Bellouin, Jo Browse, Ken S. Carslaw, Mohit Dalvi, Gerd A. Folberth, Matthew Glover, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Catherine Hardacre, Richard Hill, Ben Johnson, Andy Jones, Zak Kipling, Graham Mann, James Mollard, Fiona M. O'Connor, Julien Palmiéri, Carly Reddington, Steven T. Rumbold, Mark Richardson, Nick A. J. Schutgens, Philip Stier, Marc Stringer, Yongming Tang, Jeremy Walton, Stephanie Woodward, and Andrew Yool
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 6383–6423, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-6383-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-6383-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosols are an important component of the Earth system. Here, we comprehensively document and evaluate the aerosol schemes as implemented in the physical and Earth system models, HadGEM3-GC3.1 and UKESM1. This study provides a useful characterisation of the aerosol climatology in both models, facilitating the understanding of the numerous aerosol–climate interaction studies that will be conducted for CMIP6 and beyond.
Sandip S. Dhomse, Graham W. Mann, Juan Carlos Antuña Marrero, Sarah E. Shallcross, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Kenneth S. Carslaw, Lauren Marshall, N. Luke Abraham, and Colin E. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13627–13654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13627-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13627-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We confirm downward adjustment of SO2 emission to simulate the Pinatubo aerosol cloud with aerosol microphysics models. Similar adjustment is also needed to simulate the El Chichón and Agung volcanic cloud, indicating potential missing removal or vertical redistribution process in models. Important inhomogeneities in the CMIP6 forcing datasets after Agung and El Chichón eruptions are difficult to reconcile. Quasi-biennial oscillation plays an important role in modifying stratospheric warming.
Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry W. Thomason, Nicholas Ernest, Landon Rieger, Adam Bourassa, and Luis Millán
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2607–2634, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2607-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2607-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A robust stratospheric aerosol climatology is important as many global climate models (GCMs) make use of observed aerosol properties to prescribe aerosols in the stratosphere. Here, we present version 2.0 of the GloSSAC data set in which a new methodology is used for the post-2005 data that improves the quality of data in the lower stratosphere, which includes an improved 1020 nm extinction. Additionally, size information from multiwavelength measurements of SAGE III/ISS is provided.
Robin Wing, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Thomas J. McGee, John T. Sullivan, Grant Sumnicht, Gérard Ancellet, Alain Hauchecorne, Sergey Khaykin, and Philippe Keckhut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5621–5642, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5621-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5621-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A lidar intercomparison campaign was conducted over a period of 28 nights at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) in 2017 and 2018. The objective is to validate the ozone and temperature profiles at OHP to ensure the quality of data submitted to the NDACC database remains high. A mobile reference lidar operated by NASA was transported to OHP and operated concurrently with the French lidars. Agreement for ozone was better than 5 % between 20 and 40 km, and temperatures were equal within 3 K.
Cited articles
Antuña-Marrero, J. C., Mann, G., Keckhut, P., Avdyushin, S., Nardi, B.,
and Thomason, L. W.: Ship borne lidar measurements in the Atlantic of the
1991 Mt Pinatubo eruption, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.912770 , 2020.
Antuña, J. C., Robock, A., Stenchikov, G. L., Thomason, L. W., and
Barnes, J. E.: Lidar validation of SAGE II aerosol measurements after the 1991
Mount Pinatubo eruption, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4194, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD001441, 2002.
Antuña, J. C., Robock, A., Stenchikov, G. L., Zhou, J., David, C.,
Barnes, J. E., and Thomason, L. W.: Spatial and temporal variability of the
stratospheric aerosol cloud produced by the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption,
J. Geophys. Res., 108(D20), 4624, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JD003722, 2003.
Avdyushin, S. I., Tulinov, G. F., Ivanov, M. S., Kuzmenko, B. N.,
Mezhuev, I. R., Nardi, B., Hauchecorne, A., and Chanin, M.-L.: Spatial and temporal
evolution of the optical thickness of the Pinatubo aerosol cloud in the
northern hemisphere from a network of shipborne and stationary lidars,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 1963–1966, 1993.
Bauman, J. J., Russell, P. B., Geller, M. A., and Hamill, P.: A stratospheric
aerosol climatology from SAGE-II and CLAES measurements: 1. Methodology, J. Geophys. Res.,
108, 4382, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002992, 2003.
Bucholtz, A.: Rayleigh-scattering calculations for the terrestrial
atmosphere, App. Opt., 34, 2765–2773, 1995.
Collis, R. T. H. and Russell, P. B.: Lidar Measurement of Particles and Gases by
Elastic Backscattering and Differential Absorption, in: Laser Monitoring of
the Atmosphere, edited by: Hinkley, E. D., Springer-Verlag, NewYork, p. 102,
1976.
Deshler, T., Johnson, B. J., and Rozier, W. R.: Balloonborne measurements of
Pinatubo aerosol during 1991 and 1992 at 41∘ N: Vertical profiles, size
distribution and volatility, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 1435–1438, 1993.
Fleming, E. L., Chandra, S., Shoeberl, M. R., and Barnett, J. J.: Monthly Mean
Global Climatology of Temperature, Wind, Geopotential Height and Pressure
for 0–120 km, NASA TM100697, February 1988.
Grant, W. B., Browell, E. V., Long, C. S., Stowe, L. L., Grainger, R. G., and
Lambert, A.: Use of volcanic aerosols to study the tropical stratospheric
reservoir, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 3973–3988, 1996.
Guasta, M. D., Morandi, M., Stefanutti, L., Stein, B., Kolenda, J., Rairoux, P.,
Wolf, J. P., Matthey, R., and Kyro, E.: Multiwavelength lidar observation of
thin cirrus at the base of the Pinatubo stratospheric layer during the EASOE
campaign, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 1339–1342, 1994.
Jäger, H. and Deshler, T.: Lidar backscatter to extinction, mass and
area conversions for stratospheric aerosols based on midlatitude balloon
borne size distribution measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1929, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL015609, 2002.
Jäger, H., Deshler, T., and Hofmann, D. J.: Midlatitude lidar backscatter
conversions based on balloonborne aerosol measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 1727–1732,
1995.
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., Reynolds, R., Jenne, R., and Joseph, D.: The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project, B.
Am. Meteorol. Soc., 77, 437–472, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2, 1996.
McCormick, M. P. and Veiga, R. E.: SAGE II measurements of early Pinatubo
aerosols, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19, 155–158, 1992.
Nardi, B., Chanin, M.-L., Hauchecorne, A., Avdyushin, S. I., Tulinov, G. F., Ivanov, M.
S., Kuzmenko, B. N., and Mezhuev, I. R.: Morphology and dynamics of the
Pinatubo aerosol layer in the Northern Hemisphere as detected from a
ship-borne lidar. Part II, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 1967–1970, 1993.
Prata, A. T., Young, S. A., Siems, S. T., and Manton, M. J.: Lidar ratios of stratospheric volcanic ash and sulfate aerosols retrieved from CALIOP measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8599–8618, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8599-2017, 2017.
Robock, A.: Volcanic eruptions and climate, Rev. Geophys., 38, 191–219, https://doi.org/10.1029/1998RG000054, 2000.
Russell, P. B., Swissler, T. J., and McCormick, M. P.: Methodology for error
analysis and simulation of lidar aerosol measurements, App. Opt., 18, 3783–3797,
1979.
Russell, P. B., Livingston, J. M., Pueschel, R. F., Bauman, J. J., Pollack,
J. B., Brooks, S. L., Hamill, P., Thomason, L. W., Stowe, L. L., Deshler, T.,
Dutton, E. G., and Bergstrom, R. W.: Global to microscale evolution of the
Pinatubo volcanic aerosol derived from diverse measurements and analyses,
J. Geophys. Res., 101, 18745–18763. 1996.
SSiRC: Activity – Data Rescue, available at:
http://www.sparc-ssirc.org/data/datarescueactivity.html, last access: 2
January 2020.
SPARC: Assessment of
Stratospheric Aerosol Properties (ASAP), in: SPARC Report No. 4, Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC), edited by:
Thomason, L. and Peter, T., World Climate Research Programme WCRP-124, WMO/TD No. 1295, WMO, 2006.
Thomason, L. W., Ernest, N., Millán, L., Rieger, L., Bourassa, A., Vernier, J.-P., Manney, G., Luo, B., Arfeuille, F., and Peter, T.: A global space-based stratospheric aerosol climatology: 1979–2016, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 469–492, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-469-2018, 2018.
Timmreck, C.: Modeling the climatic effects of large explosive volcanic
eruptions, WIREs Clim. Change, 3, 545–564, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.192,
2012.
Vaughan, G., Wareing, D. P., Jones, S. B., Thomas, L., and Larsen, N.: Lidar
measurements of Mt. Pinatubo aerosols at Aberystwyth from August 1991
through March 1992, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 1315–1318, 1994.
Short summary
We report the recovery of lidar measurements of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. Two Soviet ships crossing the tropical Atlantic in July–September 1991 and January–February 1992 measured the vertical profile of the Pinatubo cloud at different points in its spatio-temporal evolution. The datasets provide valuable new information on the eruption's impacts on climate, with the SAGE-II satellite measurements not able to measure most of the lower half of the Pinatubo cloud in the tropics in this period.
We report the recovery of lidar measurements of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. Two Soviet ships...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint