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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L21710, doi:10.1029/2005GL023542, 2005

Climate response to volcanic forcing: Validation of climate sensitivity of a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model

T. Yokohata

Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan


S. Emori

Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan
Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan


T. Nozawa

Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan


Y. Tsushima

Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan


T. Ogura

Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan


M. Kimoto

Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan


Abstract

Two versions of a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (GCM) with different climate sensitivities are tested on global cooling following the Pinatubo volcanic eruption to investigate the validity of high climate sensitivities. The higher-sensitivity version, with climate sensitivity of 6.3 K for doubled CO2 forcing, overestimates cooling due to the volcanic eruption, whereas the lower-sensitivity version (4.0 K) produces results consistent with observations. A simple scheme for climate feedback analysis is devised and it is found that the difference between the two versions is attributed to cloud-albedo feedback. This validation method is expected to provide additional constraints on climate sensitivity and possibly lead to reduced uncertainties in climate prediction.

Received 18 May 2005; accepted 23 September 2005; published 5 November 2005.

Index Terms: 0370 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Volcanic effects (8409); 3339 Atmospheric Processes: Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504).

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Citation: Yokohata, T., S. Emori, T. Nozawa, Y. Tsushima, T. Ogura, and M. Kimoto (2005), Climate response to volcanic forcing: Validation of climate sensitivity of a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L21710, doi:10.1029/2005GL023542.