Matt Long (Jun 21 2021 at 16:04): Matt Long (Jun 21 2021 at 16:04):Cecilia Bitz just sent me this paper.
Robust Inter-Hemispheric Asymmetry in the Response to Symmetric Volcanic Forcing in Model Large Ensembles
The climate response to volcanic eruptions in the twentieth century is difficult to separate
from the influence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing and internal variability. Here, we make use
of recently available large ensembles of Earth-system model simulations to better understand the forced
climate response to contemporary volcanic eruptions. While the Pinatubo eruption in June 1991 resulted
in approximately symmetric forcing between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the ensemblemean
simulated temperature and sea ice responses it produces are asymmetric. The strongest cooling and
sea ice expansion occur in the Arctic, while the responses in the Antarctic are weak. The damped highlatitude
Southern Hemisphere response to volcanic forcing is analogous to the fast response to increased
greenhouse gas concentrations, despite the differing physical nature of the forcing. We find that Arctic
cooling in response to a Pinatubo-scale eruption may not occur due to the high internal variability in that
region
Yassir Eddebbar (Jun 22 2021 at 07:16):Very interesting!
Yassir Eddebbar (Jun 23 2021 at 20:13):Just a quick check here with the ~ 11 ensemble members (can't access 18+ member_ids), but seems to be the case for the no Pinatubo case as well: Figure_no_pinatubo.png
Last updated: May 16 2025 at 17:14 UTC