The SSiRC model community agreed at the Atlanta workshop in October 2013 on some common model experiments to understand the climate impact of stratospheric aerosol and to assess parameter uncertainty. The time is ripe for a new model data intercomparison eight years after the model intercomparison study in the SPARC Assessment of Stratospheric Aerosol properties (ASAP) Report. In addition:
Diverse observational data records are now available / will be available soon (longer records, new measurements on the horizon).
For more realistic climate simulations an interactive stratospheric aerosol layer in IPCC models is needed
Increasing knowledge about:
TTL processes
Variability of the stratospheric background layer
Impact on Volcanoes on the Earth System
We need to be prepared :
for the next big volcano.
for the challenges our community will face from the need to assess proposed climate engineering schemes.
Background case (10 year climatology) (D. Weisenstein, USA; J. English, USA) to understand sources and sinks of stratospheric background aerosol (download pdf)
Transient run for the last decade (2000-2010), (M. Chin, USA; R. Hommel, Germany; R. Neely, USA) to address the question of the observed increase in stratospheric background aerosol (download pdf)
Pinatubo case study (POEMS) (G. Mann, UK; V. Aquila, USA; M. Toohey Germany) as a references case for aerosol perturbation and to assess parameter uncertainty (download pdf)
Release of protocols: December 2014
Experiments: 2015
Evaluation of model output: late 2015/early 2016
Contact: claudia.timmreck@mpimet.mpg.de, G.W.Mann@leeds.ac.uk