Month: March 2014

CSALT Volcanic Aerosols

/ Paul Pukite (@whut) / 4 Comments

The volcanic aerosol factor of the CSALT model is an example of a perfectly interlocking piece in the larger global surface temperature puzzle.  I thought I would present a more detailed description in response to the absolutely hapless recent volcano posts at the WUWT blog (here and here).  The usual deniers in the WUWTang Clan can’t seem to get much right in their quest to intelligently spell out ABCD (Anything But Carbon Dioxide).

Fig 1 :  CSALT model using the GISS Stratospheric Aerosol forcing model.

The addition of the volcanic aerosol factor is no different than the other components of the CSALT model. Two flavors of volcanic aerosol forcings are provided. The standard forcing table is the GISS stratospheric aerosol optical thickness model maintained by Sato [1] and I use this table as is (see Figure 1).   The more experimental model that I generated is a sparse table that features only the volcanoes of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 5 or higher.

The VEI scale is logarithmic so that a VEI of 6 contains 10 times as much ejected particulates by volume than a VEI of 5 (which recursively is 10 times as much as VEI=4, and so on). This means that by modeling VEI of 5 or 6 we should capture most of the particulates generated as discrete events.

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Decadal Temperature Variations and LOD

/ Paul Pukite (@whut) / 4 Comments

[mathjax]The two primary oscillating factors that we have identified in the CSALT model of global temperature are the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Length of Day (LOD).  The distinguishing factor in terms of impact  is that the SOI is characterized by intradecadal oscillations while the LOD fluctuates across decades [1].

If we can model the SOI deterministically, as demonstrated here, the hope is we may be able to model the LOD as well.  But first, we need to understand the significance of the LOD and its possible origin.

Fig 1:  As a premise for Length of Day (LOD) variations we consider that the rotational moment of inertia changes along the planetary surface.  If a band of water positioned along the equator shifts to higher latitude, the rotational moment of inertia decreases and the rotational velocity increases, thus shortening the length of day.

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