The impact of wave‐mean flow interaction on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex after tropical volcanic eruptions

Matthias Bittner; Claudia Timmreck; Hauke Schmidt; Matthew Toohey; Kirstin Krüger

doi:10.1002/2015jd024603

journal article May 19, 2016

The impact of wave‐mean flow interaction on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex after tropical volcanic eruptions

Matthias Bittner

Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Vol. 121 No. 10 pp. 5281-5297 · American Geophysical Union (AGU)

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/2015jd024603

Abstract

AbstractThe current generation of Earth system models that participate in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) does not, on average, produce a strengthened Northern Hemisphere (NH) polar vortex after large tropical volcanic eruptions as suggested by observational records. Here we investigate the impact of volcanic eruptions on the NH winter stratosphere with an ensemble of 20 model simulations of the Max Planck Institute Earth system model. We compare the dynamical impact in simulations of the very large 1815 Tambora eruption with the averaged dynamical response to the two largest eruptions of the CMIP5 historical simulations (the 1883 Krakatau and the 1991 Pinatubo eruptions). We find that for both the Tambora and the averaged Krakatau‐Pinatubo eruptions the radiative perturbation only weakly affects the polar vortex directly. The position of the maximum temperature anomaly gradient is located at approximately 30°N, where we obtain significant westerly zonal wind anomalies between 10 hPa and 30 hPa. Under the very strong forcing of the Tambora eruption, the NH polar vortex is significantly strengthened because the subtropical westerly wind anomalies are sufficiently strong to robustly alter the propagation of planetary waves. The average response to the eruptions of Krakatau and Pinatubo reveals a slight strengthening of the polar vortex, but individual ensemble members differ substantially, indicating that internal variability plays a dominant role. For the Tambora eruption the ensemble variability of the zonal mean temperature and zonal wind anomalies during midwinter and late winter is significantly reduced compared to the volcanically unperturbed period.

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Details

Published: May 19, 2016
Vol/Issue: 121(10)
Pages: 5281-5297
License: View

Authors

M

Matthias Bittner

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg Germany; International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling (IMPRS) Hamburg Germany

C

Claudia Timmreck

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg Germany

H

Hauke Schmidt

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg Germany

M

Matthew Toohey

GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Kiel Germany

K

Kirstin Krüger

Department of Geosciences University of Oslo Oslo Norway

Funding

Federal Ministry for Education and Research in Germany Award: FKZ: 01LP130A (M.B. and C.T.)/01LP1130B (M.T.)

Cite This Article

Matthias Bittner, Claudia Timmreck, Hauke Schmidt, et al. (2016). The impact of wave‐mean flow interaction on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex after tropical volcanic eruptions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121(10), 5281-5297. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd024603

The impact of wave‐mean flow interaction on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex after tropical volcanic eruptions

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