Robust winter warming over Eurasia under stratospheric sulfate geoengineering – the role of stratospheric dynamics

7 May 2021

The authors find that simulated stratospheric sulfate geoengineering could lead to warmer Eurasian winters alongside a drier Mediterranean and wetting to the north. These effects occur due to the strengthening of the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex, which shifts the North Atlantic Oscillation to a more positive phase. The authors find the effects in their simulations to be much more significant than the wintertime effects of large tropical volcanic eruptions which inject much less sulfate aerosol.

The press release by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can be found at: https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2756/Simulated-geoengineering-evaluation-cooler-planet-but-with-side-effects

Contact: Antara Banerjee (antara.banerjee@noaa.gov)