13 research outputs found

    Regional Climate Response of Middle Eastern, African, and South Asian Monsoon Regions to Explosive Volcanism and ENSO Forcing

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    It is well observed that the monsoon climate experiences substantial climatic changes following explosive volcanism. Likewise, previous studies show that the monsoon climate regimes, especially, the African and South Asian tropical regions, are adversely affected by El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Hence, studying the sensitivity of the monsoon regions to the effect of these forcing factors, that is, explosive volcanism and volcanic-induced ENSO forcing, is essential for better understanding the driving mechanism and climate variability in these regions. Using observations and a high resolution atmospheric model, effectively at 50- and 25-km grid spacing, this study shows that ENSO and tropical eruptions together weaken the upward branch of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Hadley cell, that is, Intertropical Convergence Zone. This results in a significant decrease of monsoonal precipitation, suggesting severe drought conditions over the NH tropical rain belt regions. The volcanic-induced direct radiative cooling and associated land-sea thermal contrast result in significant warming and drying due to the reduction of clouds over the monsoon regions in boreal summer. The posteruption ENSO circulation also results in warming and drying over NH tropical rain belt regions. This study confirms that the monsoon climate regime responds vigorously to posteruption direct radiative and indirect circulation impacts caused by volcanic-induced ENSO forcing. Hence, quantification of magnitude and spatial pattern of these postvolcanic direct and indirect climatic responses is important for better understanding of climate variability and changes in Asian and African monsoon regions

    Revisiting the strong and weak ENSO teleconnection impacts using a high-resolution atmospheric model

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    To evaluate the performance of a high-resolution atmospheric model (HiRAM) and to improve our understanding of the climatic impacts of ENSO forcing and associated teleconnections, we analyzed AMIP-style HiRAM simulations conducted effectively at 25 km grid spacing. To better assess HiRAM response to ENSO climate variability; we categorized it into strong and weak El Niño/La Niña episodes. The HiRAM model reproduced the impacts of strong ENSO over global scale very well, however, it underestimated ENSO teleconnection patterns and associated changes over regional scale (e.g., MENA and South Asia), especially following weak ENSO that could be attributed to model weak response to circulation changes such as Pacific North American (PNA) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Moreover, our results emphasize that ENSO impacts are relatively stronger over the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) compared to extra-tropics and high-latitude regions. The positive phase of ENSO causes weakening in rainfall over the African tropical rain-belt, parts of South and Southeast Asia. Both the reanalysis and HiRAM results reveal that ENSO-induced negative (positive) NAO-like response and associated changes over Southern Europe and North Africa vary significantly following the increased intensity of El Niño (La Niña). We further found that the ENSO magnitude significantly impacts Hadley and Walker circulations. The El Niño phase of ENSO overall strengthens the Hadley Cell, and the reverse is true for the La Niña phase. This ENSO-induced strengthening and weakening of Hadley Cell induce significant impact over South Asian and African convective regions through modification of the ITCZ circulation system

    Revisiting the strong and weak ENSO teleconnection impacts using a high-resolution atmospheric model

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    To evaluate the performance of a high-resolution atmospheric model (HiRAM) and to improve our understanding of the climatic impacts of ENSO forcing and associated teleconnections, we analyzed AMIP-style HiRAM simulations conducted effectively at 25 km grid spacing. To better assess HiRAM response to ENSO climate variability; we categorized it into strong and weak El Niño/La Niña episodes. The HiRAM model reproduced the impacts of strong ENSO over global scale very well, however, it underestimated ENSO teleconnection patterns and associated changes over regional scale (e.g., MENA and South Asia), especially following weak ENSO that could be attributed to model weak response to circulation changes such as Pacific North American (PNA) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Moreover, our results emphasize that ENSO impacts are relatively stronger over the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) compared to extra-tropics and high-latitude regions. The positive phase of ENSO causes weakening in rainfall over the African tropical rain-belt, parts of South and Southeast Asia. Both the reanalysis and HiRAM results reveal that ENSO-induced negative (positive) NAO-like response and associated changes over Southern Europe and North Africa vary significantly following the increased intensity of El Niño (La Niña). We further found that the ENSO magnitude significantly impacts Hadley and Walker circulations. The El Niño phase of ENSO overall strengthens the Hadley Cell, and the reverse is true for the La Niña phase. This ENSO-induced strengthening and weakening of Hadley Cell induce significant impact over South Asian and African convective regions through modification of the ITCZ circulation system

    Ocean Sensitivity to Periodic and Constant Volcanism

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    It is strongly believed that the explosive eruptions produce negative radiative forcing that causes long-term perturbations in the ocean. Moreover, it is anticipated that a sporadic strong cooling should initiate more vigorous vertical mixing of the upper ocean, and therefore cools the ocean more effectively than a uniform radiative forcing. However, the long-term simulations show that on average the ocean heat content responses to periodic and constant forcings are comparable. To better understand this controversy and to better quantify the post-eruption oceanic response, we conducted two sets of parallel simulations, the first with a uniform/constant volcanic forcing and the second one with a periodic volcanic forcing of magnitude 1×, 5×, 10× and 30× of Pinatubo size eruption using Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s coupled model, CM2.1. We systematically compared the effect of periodic volcanic forcing with an equivalent time-average volcanic cooling. Our results reveal that on average, volcanic-induced perturbations in Ocean Heat Content (OHC), and sea-level rise (SLR) following uniform and periodic eruptions are almost identical. It further emphasizes that the strength of ocean heat uptake at different ocean depths is mainly driven by the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These findings are important for ocean initialization in long-term climate studies, and geoengineering applications. It would help to unfold uncertainties related to ocean relaxation process, heat storage, and redistribution

    A Review of El Niño Southern Oscillation Linkage to Strong Volcanic Eruptions and Post-Volcanic Winter Warming

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    Understanding the influence of volcanism on ENSO and associated climatic impacts is of great scientific and social importance. Although many studies on the volcano–ENSO nexus are available, a thorough review of ENSO sensitivity to explosive eruptions is still missing. Therefore, this study aims to provide an in-depth assessment of the ENSO response to volcanism. Most past studies suggest an emerging consensus in models, with the vast majority showing an El Niño-like SST response during the eruption year and a La Niña-like response a few years later. RCP8.5-based climate model projections also suggest strong El Niño conditions and significant monsoonal rainfall reduction following strong tropical volcanism. However, some studies involving climate reconstructions and model simulations still raise concerns about the ENSO–volcano link and suggest a weak ENSO response to volcanism. This happens because ENSO response to volcanism seems very sensitive to reconstruction methods, ENSO preconditioning, eruption timing, position and amplitude. We noticed that some response mechanisms are still unclear, for instance, how the tropical volcanic forcing with nearly uniform radiative cooling projects onto ENSO when coincidental ENSO events are underway. Moreover, there are very less observational and proxy records for assessing the extratropical volcanism impact on ENSO. Nevertheless, model-based studies suggest that Northern (Southern) Hemispheric extratropical eruptions may lead to an El Niño (La Niña)-like response. We further noticed that the origin of post-eruption winter warming is still elusive; however, recent findings suggest that the large-scale circulation changes concurrently occurring during volcanism are the potential source of high-latitude winter warming. Existing uncertainties in the simulated ENSO response to volcanism could be reduced by considering a synchronized modeling approach with large ensembles
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