Water vapour variability in the high-latitude upper troposphere – Part 2: Impact of volcanic emissions

Abstract

Abstract. The impact of volcanic eruptions on water vapour in the region of the high latitude tropopause is studied using deseasonalized time series based on observations by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) water vapour sensors, namely MAESTRO (Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation) and the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS). The three eruptions with the greatest impact on the high latitude upper troposphere during the time frame of this satellite-based remote sensing mission are chosen. The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic eruption in June 2011 was the most explosive eruption in the past 24 years and resulted in an observed (50 ± 12) % increase in water vapour in the southern high-latitude upper troposphere in July 2011 that persisted into September 2011. A pair of Northern Hemisphere volcanoes, namely Eyjafjallajökull and Nabro, erupted in 2010 and 2011 respectively, increasing water vapour in the upper troposphere at northern high latitudes significantly for a period of ~ 3 months following each eruption. Both had a volcanic explosivity index of 4. Nabro led to a statistically significant increase of ~ 1 ppm in lower stratospheric (13.5–15.5 km) water vapour at northern high-latitudes (60–90° N) in September 2011, when the brunt of its plume arrived in the Arctic. These findings imply that steam emitted into the high-latitude, upper troposphere during volcanic eruptions must be taken into account to properly determine the magnitude of the trend in water vapour over the last decade.