Quantification of tropical monsoon precipitation changes in terms of interhemispheric differences in stratospheric sulfate aerosol optical depth

Roose, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6444-4837, Bala, G., Krishnamohan, K. S., Cao, L. and Caldeira, K. (2023) Quantification of tropical monsoon precipitation changes in terms of interhemispheric differences in stratospheric sulfate aerosol optical depth. Climate Dynamics, 61. pp. 4243-4258. ISSN 1432-0894 doi: 10.1007/s00382-023-06799-3

Abstract/Summary

Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering (SAG) is one of the solar geoengineering approaches that have been proposed to offset some of the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Past studies have shown that SAG may have adverse impacts on the global hydrological cycle. Using a climate model, we quantify the sensitivity of the tropical monsoon precipitation to the meridional distribution of volcanic sulfate aerosols prescribed in the stratosphere in terms of the changes in aerosol optical depth (AOD). In our experiments, large changes in summer monsoon precipitation in the tropical monsoon regions are simulated, especially over the Indian region, in association with meridional shifts in the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) caused by changes in interhemispheric AOD differences. Based on our simulations, we estimate a sensitivity of − 1.8°þinspace±þinspace0.0° meridional shift in global mean ITCZ and a 6.9þinspace±þinspace0.4% reduction in northern hemisphere (NH) monsoon index (NHMI; summer monsoon precipitation over NH monsoon regions) per 0.1 interhemispheric AOD difference (NH minus southern hemisphere). We also quantify this sensitivity in terms of interhemispheric differences in effective radiative forcing and interhemispheric temperature differences: 3.5þinspace±þinspace0.3% change in NHMI per unit (Wm−2) interhemispheric radiative forcing difference and 5.9þinspace±þinspace0.4% change per unit (°C) interhemispheric temperature difference. Similar sensitivity estimates are also made for the Indian monsoon precipitation. The establishment of the relationship between interhemispheric AOD (or radiative forcing) differences and ITCZ shift as discussed in this paper will further facilitate and simplify our understanding of the effects of SAG on tropical monsoon rainfall.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130684
Identification Number/DOI	10.1007/s00382-023-06799-3
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Springer
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