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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L17702, doi:10.1029/2006GL026771, 2006

Krakatoa lives: The effect of volcanic eruptions on ocean heat content and thermal expansion

P. J. Gleckler

Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA

K. AchutaRao

Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA

J. M. Gregory

Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK

B. D. Santer

Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA

K. E. Taylor

Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA

T. M. L. Wigley

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Abstract

A suite of climate model experiments indicates that 20th Century increases in ocean heat content and sea-level (via thermal expansion) were substantially reduced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. The volcanically-induced cooling of the ocean surface is subducted into deeper ocean layers, where it persists for decades. Temporary reductions in ocean heat content associated with the comparable eruptions of El Chichón (1982) and Pinatubo (1991) were much shorter lived because they occurred relative to a non-stationary background of large, anthropogenically-forced ocean warming. Our results suggest that inclusion of the effects of Krakatoa (and perhaps even earlier eruptions) is important for reliable simulation of 20th century ocean heat uptake and thermal expansion. Inter-model differences in the oceanic thermal response to Krakatoa are large and arise from differences in external forcing, model physics, and experimental design. Systematic experimentation is required to quantify the relative importance of these factors. The next generation of historical forcing experiments may require more careful treatment of pre-industrial volcanic aerosol loadings.

Received 1 May 2006; accepted 14 July 2006; published 1 September 2006.

Index Terms: 0370 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Volcanic effects (8409); 1626 Global Change: Global climate models (3337, 4928); 1635 Global Change: Oceans (1616, 3305, 4215, 4513); 1641 Global Change: Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556); 4568 Oceanography: Physical: Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes (4490).

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Citation: Gleckler, P. J., K. AchutaRao, J. M. Gregory, B. D. Santer, K. E. Taylor, and T. M. L. Wigley (2006), Krakatoa lives: The effect of volcanic eruptions on ocean heat content and thermal expansion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L17702, doi:10.1029/2006GL026771.

Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.