Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai Volcano Impact Model Observation Comparison (HTHH-MOC) project: experiment protocol and model descriptions

Abstract. The 2022 Hunga volcanic eruption injected a significant amount of water vapor and a moderate amount of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, causing observable responses in the climate system. We have developed a model–observation comparison project to investigate the evolution of volcanic water and aerosols and their impacts on atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and climate, using several state-of-the-art chemistry climate models. The project goals are (1) to evaluate the current chemistry–climate models to quantify their performance in comparison to observations and (2) to understand atmospheric responses in the Earth system after this exceptional event and investigate the potential impacts in the projected future. To achieve these goals, we designed specific experiments for direct comparisons to observations, for example from balloons and the Microwave Limb Sounder satellite instrument. Experiment 1 consists of two sets of free-running ensemble experiments from 2022 to 2031: one with fixed sea-surface temperatures and sea ice and one with coupled ocean. These experiments will help to understand the long-term evolution of water vapor and aerosols; quantify HTHH effects on stratospheric and mesospheric temperatures, dynamics, and transport; understand the impact of dynamic changes on ozone chemistry; quantify the net radiative forcings; and evaluate any surface climate impact. Experiment 2 is a nudged-run experiment from 2022 to 2023 using observed meteorology. To allow participation of more climate models with varying complexities of aerosol simulation, we include two sets of simulations in Experiment 2: Experiment 2a is designed for models with internally generated aerosol, while Experiment 2b is designed for models using prescribed aerosol surface area density. This experiment will help to analyze H2O and aerosol evolution, quantify the net radiative forcings, understand the impacts on mid-latitude and polar O3 chemistry, and allow close comparisons with observations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geoscientific model development
Published
2025-09-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-5487-2025
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Climate variability and models
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.53

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article

Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai Volcano Impact Model Observation Comparison (HTHH-MOC) project: experiment protocol and model descriptions

Xinyue Wang, Lola Falletti, Simon Chabrillat, Olaf Morgenstern et al.
5 citations
Geoscientific model development
Climate variability and models
5.53
article

Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai Volcano Impact Model Observation Comparison (HTHH-MOC) project: experiment protocol and model descriptions

Xinyue Wang, Lola Falletti, Simon Chabrillat, Olaf Morgenstern, Timofei Sukhodolov, Hideharu Akiyoshi, Daniele Visioni, Marion Marchand, Stephen D. Steenrod, David A. Plummer, Yunqian Zhu, Peter R. Colarco, Paul A. Newman, Amy Hawes Butler, Yifeng Peng, Nicolas Lebas, Michael Manyin, Simone Tilmes, Margot Clyne, Gabriel Chiodo, Mahesh Kovilakam, Zhihong Zhuo, Takashi Sekiya, Ewa Bednarz, Elizabeth Asher, Pengfei Yu, Slimane Bekki, William J. Randel, Andrin Jörimann, Ben T. Thomas Johnson, Valentina Aquila, Y. Yamashita, Kostas Tsigaridis, Eric L. Fleming, Wandi Yu, Samuel Rémy, Shingo Watanabe, Ilaria Quaglia, Rei Ueyama, Aleš Kuchař, Parker Case, Sandip S Dhomse, Luke D. Oman, Graham W. Mann, Jun Zhang, Freja F. Østerstrøm, Gerbrand Koren, Chengcheng Liu, Qing Liang, Christoph Brühl
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Abstract. The 2022 Hunga volcanic eruption injected a significant amount of water vapor and a moderate amount of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, causing observable responses in the climate system. We have developed a model–observation comparison project to investigate the evolution of volcanic water and aerosols and their impacts on atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and climate, using several state-of-the-art chemistry climate models. The project goals are (1) to evaluate the current chemistry–climate models to quantify their performance in comparison to observations and (2) to understand atmospheric responses in the Earth system after this exceptional event and investigate the potential impacts in the projected future. To achieve these goals, we designed specific experiments for direct comparisons to observations, for example from balloons and the Microwave Limb Sounder satellite instrument. Experiment 1 consists of two sets of free-running ensemble experiments from 2022 to 2031: one with fixed sea-surface temperatures and sea ice and one with coupled ocean. These experiments will help to understand the long-term evolution of water vapor and aerosols; quantify HTHH effects on stratospheric and mesospheric temperatures, dynamics, and transport; understand the impact of dynamic changes on ozone chemistry; quantify the net radiative forcings; and evaluate any surface climate impact. Experiment 2 is a nudged-run experiment from 2022 to 2023 using observed meteorology. To allow participation of more climate models with varying complexities of aerosol simulation, we include two sets of simulations in Experiment 2: Experiment 2a is designed for models with internally generated aerosol, while Experiment 2b is designed for models using prescribed aerosol surface area density. This experiment will help to analyze H2O and aerosol evolution, quantify the net radiative forcings, understand the impacts on mid-latitude and polar O3 chemistry, and allow close comparisons with observations.

Geoscientific model developmentVol. 18(17)
Roskilde University (DK), NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (US), University of Copenhagen (DK), Ames Research Center (US), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), Met Office (GB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), University of Leeds (GB), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Langley Research Center (US), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Harvard University (US), Université du Québec à Montréal (CA), Jinan University (CN), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), Deutscher Wetterdienst (DE), American University (US), University of Canterbury (NZ), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Utrecht University (NL), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BE), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), Tohoku University (JP), Aarhus University (DK), Cornell University (US), Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics (AT), ETH Zurich (CH), Sorbonne Université (FR), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE), Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US), Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (CH), NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US), Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (US), Science Systems and Applications (United States) (US), Instituto de Geociencias (ES), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (FR), Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (FR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NZ), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (FR), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Lanzhou University (CN), Columbia University (US), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Commission, Met Office, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grand Équipement National De Calcul Intensif, Sorbonne Université, Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, NASA Headquarters, Natural Environment Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
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Climate variability and models
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