Volcanic forcing during the last millennium

Co-Author: Chris Colose, University at Albany, SUNY
Volcanic forcing is the most important external forcing during the pre-industrial part of the Last Millennium (~850-1850 C.E.). Substantial research attention has been given to the role that factors such as the latitude of an eruption or time of year have in shaping the resulting climate response to a given aerosol load. In this work, an exploration of the role that spatial structure in volcanic forcing plays is undertaken, with emphasis on the interhemispheric gradient in aerosol forcing (in particular, whether an event is symmetric or asymmetric about the equator) and the projection onto the tropical hydrologic cycle.