Interactive historical volcanic emissions, effects on chemistry and climate

Abstract:

The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) climate model, modelE, is used in its CMIP6 configuration to investigate the role of interactive volcanic emissions on chemistry and climate. Previously the model was driven, like many other CMIP class coupled models, by non - interactive prescribed AOD fields instead of using interactive emissions. Here we will investigate feedbacks within the climate model, such as radiative forcings, tropospheric-stratospheric chemistry interactions and aerosol micro-physical processes, as well as the impact of co-emitted species such as water on climate. The key question we will try to answer is whether volcanic forcings have been represented very differently within the CMIP5 and CMIP6 framework, by going from non-interactive to interactive representations. The model will be evaluated using satellite observations over the past 35 years, thus also capturing minor eruptions that happened in the last decades.