Dynamics, stratospheric ozone, and climate change

Dynamics affects the distribution and abundance of stratospheric ozone directly through transport of ozone itself and indirectly through its effect on ozone chemistry via temperature and transport of other chemical species. Dynamical processes must be considered in order to understand past ozone changes, especially in the northern hemisphere where there appears to be significant low-frequency variability which can look “trend-like” on decadal time scales. A major challenge is to quantify the predictable, or deterministic, component of past ozone changes. Over the coming century, changes in climate will affect the expected recovery of ozone. For policy reasons it is important to be able to distinguish and separately attribute the effects of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases on both ozone and climate. While the radiative-chemical effects can be relatively easily identified, this is not so evident for dynamics — yet dynamical changes (e.g., changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation) could have a first-order effect on ozone over particular regions. Understanding the predictability and robustness of such dynamical changes represents another major challenge. Chemistry-climate models have recently emerged as useful tools for addressing these questions, as they provide a self-consistent representation of dynamical aspects of climate and their coupling to ozone chemistry. We can expect such models to play an increasingly central role in the study of ozone and climate in the future, analogous to the central role of global climate models in the study of tropospheric climate change

Impact of the solar cycle and the QBO on the atmosphere and the ocean

The Solar Cycle and the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation are two major components of natural climate variability. Their direct and indirect influences in the stratosphere and troposphere are subject of a number of studies. The so-called ``top-down' mechanism describes how solar UV changes can lead to a significant enhancement of the small initial signal and corresponding changes in stratospheric dynamics. How the signal then propagates to the surface is still under investigation. We continue the ``top-down' analysis further down to the ocean and show the dynamical ocean response with respect to the solar cycle and the QBO. For this we use two 110-year chemistry climate model experiments from NCAR's Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), one with a time varying solar cycle only and one with an additionally nudged QBO, to force an ocean general circulation model, GFZ's Ocean Model for Circulation and Tides (OMCT). We find a significant ocean response to the solar cycle only in combination with a prescribed QBO. Especially in the Southern Hemisphere we find the tendency to positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM) like pattern in the surface pressure and associated wind anomalies during solar maximum conditions. These atmospheric anomalies propagate into the ocean and induce deviations in ocean currents down into deeper layers, inducing an integrated sea surface height signal. Finally, limitations of this study are discussed and it is concluded that comprehensive climate model studies require a middle atmosphere as well as a coupled ocean to investigate and understand natural climate variability. Key Points: - Modeled oceanic solar cycle response depends on realistically modeled stratosphe - A realistically modeled stratospheric solar cycle response requires a QB

Direct and indirect effects of solar variations on stratospheric ozone and temperature

We have used a fully coupled chemistry-climate model (WACCM) to investigate the relative importance of the direct and indirect effects of 11a solar variations on stratospheric temperature and ozone. Although the model does not contain a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and uses fixed sea surface temperature (SST), it is able to produce a second maximum solar response in tropical lower stratospheric (TLS) temperature and ozone of approximately 0.5 K and 3%, respectively. In the TLS, the solar spectral variations in the chemistry scheme play a more important role than solar spectral variations in the radiation scheme in generating temperature and ozone responses. The chemistry effect of solar variations causes significant changes in the Brewer-Dobson (BD) circulation resulting in ozone anomalies in the TLS. The model simulations also show a negative feedback in the upper stratosphere between the temperature and ozone responses. A wavelet analysis of the modeled ozone and temperature time series reveals that the maximum solar responses in ozone and temperature caused by both chemical and radiative effects occur at different altitudes in the upper stratosphere. The analysis also confirms that both the direct radiative and indirect ozone feedback effects are important in generating a solar response in the upper stratospheric temperatures, although the solar spectral variations in the chemistry scheme give the largest solar cycle power in the upper stratospheric temperature

Transfer von festen, flüssigen und gasförmigen Stoffen aus Vulkanen in die Atmosphäre

Die häufigsten vulkanischen Volatilen sind H2O, CO2, SO3 und Halogene. Zusammensetzung, Menge und Injektionsraten von vulkanischen Gasen und Partikeln in die Troposphäre und Stratosphäre hängen ab von der chemischen Zusammensetzung eines Magmas, dem plattentektonischen Milieu sowie Eruptionsmechanismen und Eruptionsraten. Über 90% der eruptierten Magmen sind basaltischer Zusammensetzung mit niedriger Viskosität, relativ geringen Volatilengehalten und meist niedrigen Eruptionsraten sowie wenig explosiven Eruptionen überwiegend entlang der mittelozeanischen Rücken in großen Wassertiefen. Magmen in Inselbögen und Subduktionszonen an Kontinenträndern sind H2O-reich, in anderen plattentektonischen Milieus überwiegt in basaltischen Magmen CO2. In mafischen Magmen ist CO2 schlecht löslich und kann daher schon mehrere Kilometer unter der Erdoberfläche als Gasphase aus einem Magma entweichen. Felsische (hochdifferenzierte) Magmen, H2O-reich und CO2-arm, eruptieren oft hochexplosiv, insbesondere an Subduktionszonen, und mit hohen Eruptionsraten, z.B. El Chichón (Mexiko, 1982) und Pinatubo (Philippinen, 1991). Ihre Eruptionssäulen (Gas-/Partikelgemische) können bis ca. 40 km Höhe erreichen und sind Hauptlieferant der in die Stratosphäre injizierten Gasmengen