The Radiative Forcing of the Stratospheric PyroCb Smoke over the Last Two Decades
Abstract
Wildfire-induced pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) can directly inject smoke into the stratosphere. Recently, two record-breaking pyroCb events (the 2017 Pacific Northwest event, and the 2019-2020 Australian New Year wildfire event) perturbed the stratospheric chemistry and radiation budget. The aerosol mass injected into the stratosphere by these events are comparable to the injections by the small or moderate volcanoes. The radiative forcing (RF) of volcanic eruptions is well recognized and quantified by the science community. However, the radiative and climate effects of pyroCb in the last two decades have not been quantified in climate assessment reports. Here, we use the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to simulate the transport and the RF of about 6 significant pyroCb events over the last two decades. The satellite observed plume height and smoke evolution were used to validate our simulations. We will compare the RF of the stratospheric smoke (mostly organic carbon and black carbon) to that of the volcanic aerosol (mostly sulfate).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.A35Q1874L