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theses

Stratospheric aerosols can produce large radiative forcing and climate response, often amplified in the Arctic. Here I study the Arctic response to natural (volcanic eruptions) and potential anthropogenic (geoengineering) stratospheric sulfate aerosols. I use a regional climate model and global climate model output from two modeling intercomparison projects. First, I investigate the relative impacts of changes in radiation and advection on snow extent over Baffin Island with the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Model results show it is possible to suddenly lower the snowline by amounts comparable to those seen during the Little Ice Age with an average temperature decrease of –3.9 ± 1.1 K from present. Further, sea ice expansion following large volcanic eruptions would have significant affects on inland temperatures, especially in the fall. Next, I analyze Last Millennium simulations from the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project 3 to assess whether state-of-the-art global climate models produce sudden changes and persistence of cold conditions after large volcanic eruptions as inferred by geological records and previous climate modeling. North Atlantic sea ice and Baffin Island snow cover showed large-scale expansion in the simulations, but none of the models produced significant centennial-scale effects. Warm Baffin Island summer climates stunt snow expansion in some models completely, and model topography misses the critical elevations that could sustain snow on the island. This has critical consequences for ice and snow formation and persistence in regions such as the Arctic where temperatures are near freezing and small temperature changes affect the state of water. Finally, I analyze output from the Geoengineering Modeling Intercomparison Project to examine whether geoengineering by injection of sulfate aerosols into the lower stratosphere prevents the demise of minimum annual sea ice extent, or slows spring snow cover loss. Despite geoengineering September sea ice and summer snow extents still decrease, although not as quickly as in the global warming scenario. Because of the climate system lag in responding to the existing radiative forcing, to stop Arctic sea ice and snow from continuing to melt, the imposed forcing would have to be large enough to also counteract the existing radiative imbalance.

ETD_5331

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Mira Berdahl

doi:10.7282/T3F18X14

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.