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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2400
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2400
08 Oct 2024
 | 08 Oct 2024

Stratospheric residence time and the lifetime of volcanic stratospheric aerosols

Matthew Toohey, Yue Jia, Sujan Khanal, and Susann Tegtmeier

Abstract. The amount of time that volcanic aerosols spend in the stratosphere is one of the primary factors influencing the climate impact of volcanic eruptions. Stratospheric aerosol persistence has been described in different ways, with many works quoting an approximately 12 month “residence time” for aerosol from large tropical eruptions. Here, we aim to develop a framework for describing the evolution of global stratospheric aerosol after major volcanic eruptions and quantifying its persistence, based on global satellite-based aerosol observations, tracer transport simulations and simple conceptual modeling. We show that the stratospheric residence time of air, which is estimated through passive tracer pulse experiments and is one factor influencing the lifetime of stratospheric aerosols, is strongly dependent on the injection latitude and height, with an especially strong sensitivity to injection height in the first four kilometers above the tropical tropopause. Simulated stratospheric tracer evolution is best described by a simple model which includes a lag between the injection and initiation of removal from the stratosphere. Based on analysis of global stratospheric aerosol observations, we show that the stratospheric lifetime of stratospheric aerosol from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption is approximately 22 months. We estimate the potential impact of observational uncertainties on this lifetime finding it unlikely the lifetime of Pinatubo aerosol is less than 18 months.

Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

02 Apr 2025
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Stratospheric residence time and the lifetime of volcanic stratospheric aerosols
Matthew Toohey, Yue Jia, Sujan Khanal, and Susann Tegtmeier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3821–3839, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3821-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3821-2025, 2025
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Short summary
The climate impact of volcanic eruptions depends in part on how long aerosols spend in the...
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