The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III/ISS) aboard ISS began its mission in June 2017. SAGEIII/ISS is an updated version of SAGEIII-Meteor instrument that makes observations of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficient at wavelengths that range between 385 and 1550 nm with a near global coverage between 60S-60N. While SAGEIII/ISS makes reliable and robust solar occultation measurements in stratosphere—similar to its predecessors, interpreting aerosol extinction measurements in the vicinity of tropopause and in the troposphere have been a challenge for all SAGE measurements. Here, we study the challenges associated with the discrimination of aerosols and clouds from the extinction measurements. Additionally, recent volcanic/PyroCb events make it more challenging to separate aerosols from clouds. Here, we describe the methods implemented to categorize Clouds and aerosols using available SAGEIII/ISS aerosol measurements. Cloud categorization is developed based on a method proposed by Thomason and Vernier (2013) with some modifications that now incorporates the influence of recent volcanic/PyroCb events and a new method of locating aerosol centroid based on k-medoid clustering. We use version 5.2 of SAGE III/ISS extinction coefficients for the analysis. The current algorithm now classifies standard (background) and non-standard (enhanced) aerosols in the stratosphere and identify enhanced aerosols and aerosol/cloud mixture in the tropopause region. Extinction coefficient measurements from SAGE series of observations make an important contribution in the GloSSAC data base and therefore, the impact of cloud-filtered aerosol extinction coefficient measurements on the latest version of GloSSAC (version 2.1) is also discussed.

How to cite: Kovilakam, M., Thomason, L., and Knepp, T.: SAGE III/ISS aerosol/cloud categorization and its impact on GloSSAC, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1805, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1805, 2022.

Despite the expected opposite effects of ozone recovery, the stratospheric Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) has been found to weaken in the Northern hemisphere (NH) relative to the Southern hemisphere (SH) in recent decades, inducing substantial effects on chemical composition. We investigate hemispheric asymmetries in BDC changes since about 2000 in simulations with the transport model CLaMS driven with different reanalyses (ERA5, ERA-Interim, JRA-55, MERRA-2) and contrast those to a suite of free-running climate model simulations. We find that age of air increases robustly in the NH stratosphere relative to the SH in all reanalyses considered. Related nitrous oxide changes agree well between reanalysis-driven simulations and satellite measurements, providing observational evidence for the hemispheric asymmetry in BDC changes. Residual circulation metrics further show that the composition changes are caused by structural BDC changes related to an upward shift and strengthening of the deep BDC branch, resulting in longer transit times, and a downward shift and weakening shallow branch in the NH relative to the SH. All reanalyses agree on this mechanism. Although climate model simulations show that ozone recovery will lead to overall reduced circulation and age of air trends, the hemispherically asymmetric signal in circulation trends is small compared to internal variability. Therefore, the observed circulation trends over the recent past are not in contradiction to expectations from climate models. Furthermore, the hemispheric asymmetry in BDC trends imprints on the composition of the lower stratosphere and the signal might propagate into the troposphere, potentially affecting composition down to the surface.

How to cite: Ploeger, F. and Garny, H.: Hemispheric asymmetries in recent changes of the stratospheric circulation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1928, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1928, 2022.

The longwave clear-sky feedback (the dependence of outgoing longwave radiation on surface temperature) is a major determinant of the climate's stability. Various studies have suggested that the feedback is largely independent of both surface temperature and relative humidity, which implies that the climate stability is also independent of surface temperature and relative humidity. However, this uniformity seems to contradict other work which shows that the subtropics are relatively stable and the deep tropics are relatively unstable, implying the feedback must vary between the two regions. We resolve this apparent contradiction by systematically computing the feedback as a function of both surface temperature and relative humidity. Above 275 K, the feedback depends significantly on relative humidity. We then show the feedback does indeed vary in the tropics and that this difference arises from regional differences in relative humidity. Finally, we estimate the effects of clouds on the feedback with a simple model and find that although clouds have a destabilizing influence, the significant dependence on relative humidity persists. Our work gives a renewed appreciation for how the feedback can vary significantly with both surface temperature and relative humidity.

How to cite: McKim, B., Jeevanjee, N., and Vallis, G.: The joint dependence of longwave feedback on surface temperature and relative humidity, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2102, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2102, 2022.

The recent release of the long-term ERA5 reanalysis data spanning from 1950 to present offers new opportunities for analysing trends and variability of stratospheric dynamics. For the first time, a 60 year period (1960-2020) can be analysed in reanalysis data and compared with chemistry-climate model simulations. The analyses of stratospheric circulation trends and seasonalities over this long time period can help us to better understand the long-term evolution of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), and the related inter-model differences and model dependencies. Therefore, this way an improved credibility in future projections of the BDC can be obtained.
We find that the global trend patterns of the temperature, zonal wind and residual vertical velocity agrees well between ERA5 and the multi model mean. However, differences occur in the width and altitude of the maximum trend. The tropical upwelling mass flux time series in the lower stratosphere of models and reanalysis disagrees at the beginning of the period, but they converge after around 1980. The agreement of the time series increases with altitude, where the QBO dominates the signal. Moreover, we find a generally good agreement in the zonal wind trends, although some differences are detected in the subtropical jet strength and upward shift, as well as in the polar vortex region where the models exhibit larger changes than ERA5. Another striking difference is the temperature trend in the tropical upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, where models show a more extended warming trend into the lower stratosphere. In this presentation, we show these results, put them in relation to what had been shown in previous studies for other time periods and discuss possible explanations for the differences as well as implications for the further evolution of the BDC.

How to cite: Diallo, M., Eichinger, R., Iglesias-Suarez, F., and Ploeger, F.: Evidence for the long-term climate model predicted-stratospheric circulation changes in the ERA5 reanalysis over 1960-2020, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10706, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10706, 2022.

Increasing computational resources have led to the advent of Earth System Models. However, to date many models still do not incorporate interactive chemistry due to its high computational costs. Previous work has shown the importance of interactive ozone in enhancing extreme springtime variability under present-day ozone depleting substance (ODS) levels. Here, we aim to understand the role of different greenhouse gas and ODS levels on this result. In the present study we aim to answer this question for the Arctic springtime stratosphere, contrasting a suite of multi-decadal simulations performed with the ESMs WACCM4 and SOCOLv3-MPIOM with interactive and prescribed ozone chemistry. Our analysis focuses on the contribution of carbon dioxide and ozone for temperature and temperature variability at lower, middle and upper stratospheric levels. The ensembles comprise simulations with 1xCO₂ or 4xCO₂  (without anthropogenic ODS) and year 2000 (peak ODS) forcings, allowing us to investigate the relative importance of interactive chemistry vs. prescribed ozone under different "climate states and ODS levels". Our results show 1) that CO₂ is the primary driver of the mean temperature response in the upper stratosphere while ozone largely contributes to the mean change in the lower stratosphere; 2) the importance of interactive chemistry for a coherence (coupling) between temperature, zonal wind (used as proxy for the polar vortex strength) and ozone in the lower stratosphere; and 3) an important contribution of interactive chemistry to temperature variability under year 2000 but also 1xCO₂ forcing in contrast to simulations forced with 4xCO₂.

How to cite: Kult-Herdin, J., Sukhodolov, T., Chiodo, G., and Rieder, H.: Exploring the importance of interactive ozone chemistry under different GHG and ODS levels, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12267, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12267, 2022.

Over the last two decades a growing body of literature has shown that stratospheric processes play a key role for near- and long-term projections of surface climate under different scenarios for anthropogenic and natural forcings. The effect of the stratosphere on surface climate change occurs through two main interconnected pathways: 1) stratosphere-troposphere dynamical coupling; 2) radiative feedbacks predominantly through changes to stratospheric composition. This talk will give some examples of both of these pathways relevant to climate change in the northern and southern hemispheres. Topics will include the role of the strength of the polar vortices for midlatitude circulation change, the stratospheric water vapour feedback and ozone-climate coupling. Two further factors will be discussed that affect how stratospheric processes contribute to surface climate projections: 1) the role of the annual cycle and 2) model biases. In conclusion some thoughts on key future research questions will be offered.

How to cite: Maycock, A. C.: The role of the stratosphere in understanding future climate change, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13471, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13471, 2022.