Why does stratospheric aerosol forcing strongly cool the warm pool?

Abstract 2 forcing, using idealized MPI-ESM simulations. We show that the aerosol's enhanced effective forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) over the warm pool contributes to the warm-pool-intensified temperature change but is not sufficient to explain the effect. Instead, the pattern of surface effective forcing, which is substantially different from the effective forcing at the TOA, is more closely linked to the temperature pattern. Independent of surface temperature changes, the aerosol heats the tropical stratosphere, accelerating the Brewer–Dobson circulation. The intensified Brewer–Dobson circulation exports additional energy from the tropics to the extratropics, which leads to a particularly strong negative forcing at the tropical surface. These results show how forced circulation changes can affect the climate response by altering the surface forcing pattern. Furthermore, they indicate that the established approach of diagnosing effective forcing at the TOA is useful for global means, but a surface perspective on the forcing must be adopted to understand the evolution of temperature patterns.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Why does stratospheric aerosol forcing strongly cool the warm pool? ; volume:24 ; number:12 ; year:2024 ; pages:7203-7225 ; extent:23 ; Atmospheric chemistry and physics ; 24, Heft 12 (2024), 7203-7225 (gesamt 23)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Günther, Moritz ; Schmidt, Hauke ; Timmreck, Claudia ; Toohey, Matthew

Further information

• DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-7203-2024
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2408051551374.007150572079
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:50 AM CEST