Significant radiative impact of volcanic aerosol in the lowermost stratosphere

Andersson, Sandra; Martinsson, Bengt G.; Vernier, Jean‐Paul; Friberg, Johan; Brenninkmeijer, Carl A. M.; Hermann, M.; Velthoven, P. F. J. van; Zahn, Andreas

doi:10.1038/ncomms8692

Cited by 108 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

134

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As the descent is seen in sulfate aerosol and SO 2 , it is not primarily driven by sedimentation. A similar pattern of subsidence was found by Andersson et al (2015, their Fig. 3) when studying aerosol scattering measured by CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations).…”

Section: Sulfur Transportsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Niemeier and Timmreck, 2015;Rasch et al, 2008). The negative radiative effect of stratospheric aerosol (Andersson et al, 2015;Brühl et al, 2015;Ridley et al, 2014;Santer et al, 2014;Solomon et al, 2011;Vernier et al, 2011) is discussed as being one of the causes of the global warming "hiatus" experienced during the first decade of this century (Haywood et al, 2014;Santer et al, 2014;Fyfe et al, 2013). Hofmann et al (2009) observed an increase in stratospheric aerosol load and suggested that this was due to anthropogenic emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the last decade, several volcanoes directly injected sulfur into the stratosphere up to 20 km . Ridley et al (2014) and Andersson et al (2015) emphasise the importance of volcanic aerosol in the lowermost stratosphere at mid-and high latitudes for the total volcanic aerosol forcing during the last decade. Their studies show that stratospheric altitudes below ∼ 15 km (380 K isentrope), which are not represented in many of the aerosol data sets, need to be taken into consideration when studying the global radiative forcing generated by volcanic eruptions in the extratropics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

MIPAS observations of volcanic sulfate aerosol and sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Volcanic eruptions can increase the stratospheric sulfur loading by orders of magnitude above the background level and are the most important source of variability in stratospheric sulfur. We present a set of vertical profiles of sulfate aerosol volume densities and derived liquidphase H 2 SO 4 (sulfuric acid) mole fractions for 2005-2012, retrieved from infrared limb emission measurements performed with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on board of the Environmental Satellite (Envisat). Relative to balloon-borne in situ measurements of aerosol at Laramie, Wyoming, the MIPAS aerosol data have a positive bias that has been corrected, based on the observed differences to the in situ data. We investigate the production of stratospheric sulfate aerosol from volcanically emitted SO 2 for two case studies: the eruptions of Kasatochi in 2008 and Sarychev in 2009, which both occurred in the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes during boreal summer. With the help of chemical transport model (CTM) simulations for the two volcanic eruptions we show that the MIPAS sulfate aerosol and SO 2 data are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with each other. Further, we demonstrate that the lifetime of SO 2 is explained well by its oxidation by hydroxyl radicals (OH). While the sedimentation of sulfate aerosol plays a role, we find that the long-term decay of stratospheric sulfur after these volcanic eruptions in midlatitudes is mainly controlled by transport via the BrewerDobson circulation. Sulfur emitted by the two midlatitude volcanoes resides mostly north of 30 • N at altitudes of ∼ 10-16 km, while at higher altitudes (∼ 18-22 km) part of the volcanic sulfur is transported towards the Equator where it is lifted into the stratospheric "overworld" and can further be transported into both hemispheres.

show abstract

Section: Sulfur Transportsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

MIPAS observations of volcanic sulfate aerosol and sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Aerosol particles in this region provide surface area for heterogeneous chemistry (Søvde et al, 2007) and influence the formation of ice clouds (Krämer et al, 2009) and thereby in-directly impact the Earth's radiation budget. The discovery of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) by Vernier et al (2011) and the much stronger than previously thought radiative impact of volcanic aerosols in the UT/LMS (Andersson et al, 2015) are just two examples of the importance, but also the limited knowledge, of the UT/LMS aerosol.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An optical particle size spectrometer for aircraft-borne measurements in IAGOS-CARIBIC

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The particle number size distribution is an important parameter to characterize the atmospheric aerosol and its influence on the Earth's climate. Here we describe a new optical particle size spectrometer (OPSS) for measurements of the accumulation mode particle number size distribution in the tropopause region on board a passenger aircraft (IAGOS-CARIBIC observatory: In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System -Civil Aircraft for Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container). A modified KS93 particle sensor from RION Co., Ltd., together with a new airflow system and a dedicated data acquisition system, is the key component of the CARIBIC OPSS. The instrument records individual particle pulse signal curves in the particle size range 130-1110 nm diameter (for a particle refractive index of 1.47-i0.006) together with a time stamp and thus allows the post-flight choice of the time resolution and the size distribution bin width. The CARIBIC OPSS has a 50 % particle detection diameter of 152 nm and a maximum asymptotic counting efficiency of 98 %. The instrument's measurement performance shows no pressure dependency and no particle coincidence for free tropospheric conditions. The size response function of the CARIBIC OPSS was obtained by a polystyrene latex calibration in combination with model calculations. Particle number size distributions measured with the new OPSS in the lowermost stratosphere agreed within a factor of 2 in concentration with balloon-borne measurements over western North America. Since June 2010 the CARIBIC OPSS is deployed once per month in the IAGOS-CARIBIC observatory.

show abstract

“…This is the case for tracking the evolution of aerosol from volcanic eruptions, which can have a substantial effect on the aerosol optical depth in the lowermost stratosphere (Ridley et al, 2014;Andersson et al, 2015). Furthering the understanding of the transport of aerosol near and across the tropopause would also benefit from higher spatial and temporal resolution observations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Aerosol Limb Imager: acousto-optic imaging of limb-scattered sunlight for stratospheric aerosol profiling

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI) is an optical remote sensing instrument designed to image scattered sunlight from the atmospheric limb. These measurements are used to retrieve spatially resolved information of the stratospheric aerosol distribution, including spectral extinction coefficient and particle size. Here we present the design, development and test results of an ALI prototype instrument. The longterm goal of this work is the eventual realization of ALI on a satellite platform in low earth orbit, where it can provide high spatial resolution observations, both in the vertical and cross-track. The instrument design uses a large-aperture acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) to image the sunlit stratospheric limb in a selectable narrow wavelength band ranging from the visible to the near infrared. The ALI prototype was tested on a stratospheric balloon flight from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) launch facility in Timmins, Canada, in September 2014. Preliminary analysis of the hyperspectral images indicates that the radiance measurements are of high quality, and we have used these to retrieve vertical profiles of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficient from 650 to 1000 nm, along with one moment of the particle size distribution. Those preliminary results are promising and development of a satellite prototype of ALI within the Canadian Space Agency is ongoing.

show abstract

Significant radiative impact of volcanic aerosol in the lowermost stratosphere

Cited by 108 publications

References 57 publications

MIPAS observations of volcanic sulfate aerosol and sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere

MIPAS observations of volcanic sulfate aerosol and sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere

An optical particle size spectrometer for aircraft-borne measurements in IAGOS-CARIBIC

The Aerosol Limb Imager: acousto-optic imaging of limb-scattered sunlight for stratospheric aerosol profiling

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About