Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres

Volcanic eruption columns possess the potential to transport great quantities of reactive gases to the stratosphere where they might subsequently interact with ozone. While explosive volcanic eruptions currently increase rates of ozone-loss catalysis due to an enhancement in the availability of reac...

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Main Author: Klobas, J. Eric
Other Authors: Anderson, James G., Wofsy, Steven C., Keutsch, Frank N.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40050022
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spelling ftharvardudash:oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/40050022 2023-05-15T16:39:29+02:00 Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres Klobas, J. Eric Anderson, James G. Wofsy, Steven C. Keutsch, Frank N. 2018-05 application/pdf http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40050022 en eng http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40050022 orcid:0000-0002-7732-4287 Atmospheric Sciences Geology Chemistry Physical Thesis or Dissertation text 2018 ftharvardudash 2022-04-05T18:55:05Z Volcanic eruption columns possess the potential to transport great quantities of reactive gases to the stratosphere where they might subsequently interact with ozone. While explosive volcanic eruptions currently increase rates of ozone-loss catalysis due to an enhancement in the availability of reactive chlorine following the stratospheric injection of sulfur, future eruptions are expected to enhance total column ozone as halogen loading approaches pre-industrial levels. In this thesis, the sensitivity of the ozone layer to future Pinatubo-like volcanic eruptions is explored in the context of the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) greenhouse gas emission trajectories. Heterogeneous chemical effects following large eruptions are evaluated in a variety of future atmospheres spanning contemporary times to the year 2100. Differences between the models become evident following an analysis of vertical profile response and total column response. Sensitivity studies are performed to evaluate the effect of stratospheric temperature, methane burden, and hemispheric mass loading. A predictive random forest regression model is developed and employed to account for the difference between prescribed RCP and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) halocarbon decay rates. While the ozone layer is found to be more sensitive to volcanic perturbation under WMO halocarbon trajectories, the difference between WMO and RCP scenarios is not extreme and does not represent a modal shift in behavior for any of the RCP storylines. Heterogeneous chemical processing is found to produce net ozone depletions until the 2070's for all RCP scenarios, and significant depletions of greater than 1% ozone loss until the 2060's. These dates occur later than prior estimates due to the inclusion of 4 pptv bromine from short-lived bromocarbons in the chemical model. Using the WMO EESC correction, slight ozone losses are observed following eruptions until the end of the century, though in some cases these losses are smaller than expected ozone contributions from radiative-dynamical causes. Additionally, tremendous quantities of volcanic halogens are occasionally transported to the stratosphere in the eruption column of a large, explosive volcanic eruption. Volcanic co-injections of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen chloride are evaluated for simulated Pinatubo-scale eruptions with HCl:SO2 molar ratios corresponding to recent MLS results and the ice core record. Halogen-rich eruptions produce global ozone depletion regardless of the halogen background from long-lived anthropogenic halocarbons. In cases of more severe halogen partitioning, 9-year global average losses exceed 8% with more extreme zonal losses predicted over a shorter time horizon. Additionally, it is demonstrated that perturbations of stratospheric ozone by halogen-rich eruptions have significantly longer lifetimes than perturbations of ozone by Pinatubo-like eruptions due to differential decay trajectories of volcanic SO2 and HCl. The stratospheric ozone response to co-injections of HCl with SO2 is shown to scale non-linearly in comparison to individual injections of each component. Chemical Physics Stratospheric Ozone; Volcanism; Climate; Atmospheric Chemistry; Climate Change; Ozone Layer; Heterogeneous Chemistry; Catalysis; Free Radical Chemistry Thesis ice core Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard
institution Open Polar
collection Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard
op_collection_id ftharvardudash
language English
topic Atmospheric Sciences
Geology
Chemistry
Physical
spellingShingle Atmospheric Sciences
Geology
Chemistry
Physical
Klobas, J. Eric
Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
topic_facet Atmospheric Sciences
Geology
Chemistry
Physical
description Volcanic eruption columns possess the potential to transport great quantities of reactive gases to the stratosphere where they might subsequently interact with ozone. While explosive volcanic eruptions currently increase rates of ozone-loss catalysis due to an enhancement in the availability of reactive chlorine following the stratospheric injection of sulfur, future eruptions are expected to enhance total column ozone as halogen loading approaches pre-industrial levels. In this thesis, the sensitivity of the ozone layer to future Pinatubo-like volcanic eruptions is explored in the context of the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) greenhouse gas emission trajectories. Heterogeneous chemical effects following large eruptions are evaluated in a variety of future atmospheres spanning contemporary times to the year 2100. Differences between the models become evident following an analysis of vertical profile response and total column response. Sensitivity studies are performed to evaluate the effect of stratospheric temperature, methane burden, and hemispheric mass loading. A predictive random forest regression model is developed and employed to account for the difference between prescribed RCP and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) halocarbon decay rates. While the ozone layer is found to be more sensitive to volcanic perturbation under WMO halocarbon trajectories, the difference between WMO and RCP scenarios is not extreme and does not represent a modal shift in behavior for any of the RCP storylines. Heterogeneous chemical processing is found to produce net ozone depletions until the 2070's for all RCP scenarios, and significant depletions of greater than 1% ozone loss until the 2060's. These dates occur later than prior estimates due to the inclusion of 4 pptv bromine from short-lived bromocarbons in the chemical model. Using the WMO EESC correction, slight ozone losses are observed following eruptions until the end of the century, though in some cases these losses are smaller than expected ozone contributions from radiative-dynamical causes. Additionally, tremendous quantities of volcanic halogens are occasionally transported to the stratosphere in the eruption column of a large, explosive volcanic eruption. Volcanic co-injections of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen chloride are evaluated for simulated Pinatubo-scale eruptions with HCl:SO2 molar ratios corresponding to recent MLS results and the ice core record. Halogen-rich eruptions produce global ozone depletion regardless of the halogen background from long-lived anthropogenic halocarbons. In cases of more severe halogen partitioning, 9-year global average losses exceed 8% with more extreme zonal losses predicted over a shorter time horizon. Additionally, it is demonstrated that perturbations of stratospheric ozone by halogen-rich eruptions have significantly longer lifetimes than perturbations of ozone by Pinatubo-like eruptions due to differential decay trajectories of volcanic SO2 and HCl. The stratospheric ozone response to co-injections of HCl with SO2 is shown to scale non-linearly in comparison to individual injections of each component. Chemical Physics Stratospheric Ozone; Volcanism; Climate; Atmospheric Chemistry; Climate Change; Ozone Layer; Heterogeneous Chemistry; Catalysis; Free Radical Chemistry
author2 Anderson, James G.
Wofsy, Steven C.
Keutsch, Frank N.
format Thesis
author Klobas, J. Eric
author_facet Klobas, J. Eric
author_sort Klobas, J. Eric
title Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
title_short Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
title_full Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
title_fullStr Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
title_full_unstemmed Volcanic Perturbations of Stratospheric Ozone in Contemporary and Future Atmospheres
title_sort volcanic perturbations of stratospheric ozone in contemporary and future atmospheres
publishDate 2018
url http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40050022
genre ice core
genre_facet ice core
op_relation http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40050022
orcid:0000-0002-7732-4287
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