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Map showing the observed spread of the twilight phenomena in the two weeks following the Krakatau eruption. The black lines are redrafted from Russell (1888d31. Russell , F. A.R. 1888d. “Spread of the phenomena round the world, with maps illustrative thereof”. In The Eruption of Krakatoa, and Subsequent Phenomena, Edited by: Symons , G. J. 334–339. London, , UK: Trübner & Co. View all references) and show his determination of the westward extent of the phenomena each day. The shading was added by the present author and represents an estimate of the actual extent of the volcanic aerosol cloud each day, based on other information in Russell (1888d31. Russell , F. A.R. 1888d. “Spread of the phenomena round the world, with maps illustrative thereof”. In The Eruption of Krakatoa, and Subsequent Phenomena, Edited by: Symons , G. J. 334–339. London, , UK: Trübner & Co. View all references).
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The 1883 eruption of Krakatau was a seminal event in the study of several atmospheric phenomena. This paper reviews the work that led to the first determination of the wind in the tropical stratosphere and provides some biographical background on two quite remarkable amateur scientists whose observations and analyses in the aftermath of the eruptio...
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... over the next several months spread to mid-latitudes. Russell pro- duced a map showing the boundary of the plume determined day-by-day for about the first two weeks based on his collected anecdotal reports (he also produced other maps showing the spread over the next several months). The boundary lines on his map are reproduced (but redrafted) in Fig. 3. The lines attempt to delineate the western and, in some cases, part of the northern and southern boundaries of the region where twi- light phenomena were observed by the end of each day. There are no lines for 29 August or 6, 7 and 8 September, and no western boundary is indicated for 28 August, deficiencies all presumably reflecting ...
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... August or 6, 7 and 8 September, and no western boundary is indicated for 28 August, deficiencies all presumably reflecting a lack of data. This map is supplemented in the Royal Society report by another map that shows Russell's estimate of the full extent of the plume by 7 September. This second map guided the present author in adding shading to Fig. 3 to suggest approximately the full extent of the plume each day. Given the scattered nature of the observations it is not clear how much credence can be given to some of the finer details in Fig. 3, such as the apparent narrowing of the western edge of the plume on 1 ...
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... map that shows Russell's estimate of the full extent of the plume by 7 September. This second map guided the present author in adding shading to Fig. 3 to suggest approximately the full extent of the plume each day. Given the scattered nature of the observations it is not clear how much credence can be given to some of the finer details in Fig. 3, such as the apparent narrowing of the western edge of the plume on 1 ...
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... most striking aspect of Fig. 3 is the rapid westward spread of the plume. If one supposes that by 10 September the plume moved over Krakatau again, then the plume circled the globe in 15 days, corresponding to a mean easterly wind velocity of about 30 m s −1 . The results depicted in Fig. 3 show some substantial variations in the westward drift, with faster motion ...
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... most striking aspect of Fig. 3 is the rapid westward spread of the plume. If one supposes that by 10 September the plume moved over Krakatau again, then the plume circled the globe in 15 days, corresponding to a mean easterly wind velocity of about 30 m s −1 . The results depicted in Fig. 3 show some substantial variations in the westward drift, with faster motion until about 5 September. Attempts were made to estimate the height of the aerosol from ground-based obser- vations. These estimates were as high as 40 km for the altitude of the initial plume, a level that seems rather high compared with better-observed recent ...
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... Since 'blueing' of the Sun or moon requires a specific stratospheric aerosol particle size of~0.5 µm (e.g., Garrison et al., 2021), this may tentatively be attributed to the larger size of the HTHH aerosol particles. Another atmospheric phenomenon first reported after the 1883 Krakatau eruption was the 'Bishop's Ring' halo around the Sun, observed from Honolulu (Hawai'i) by the Reverend Sereno Bishop (Hamilton, 2012). A similar solar halo was observed from Zimbabwe (at a similar latitude to Tonga) throughout the day on 12 February 2022 (https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_ ...
... The initial dispersion of the January 15 HTHH eruption cloud also bore a strong resemblance to the 1883 Krakatau eruption. After the 1883 eruption, the Krakatau volcanic aerosol cloud (and associated twilight phenomena) spread rapidly westwards from Indonesia and completed a global circuit in~2 weeks (Hamilton, 2012). The 1883 eruption provided the first observation of tropical stratospheric winds (the 'Krakatoa Easterlies') and was key to the later discovery of the phased variability in stratospheric wind direction now known as the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) (Hamilton, 2012;Figure 8). ...
... After the 1883 eruption, the Krakatau volcanic aerosol cloud (and associated twilight phenomena) spread rapidly westwards from Indonesia and completed a global circuit in~2 weeks (Hamilton, 2012). The 1883 eruption provided the first observation of tropical stratospheric winds (the 'Krakatoa Easterlies') and was key to the later discovery of the phased variability in stratospheric wind direction now known as the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) (Hamilton, 2012;Figure 8). Similarly, after the 15 January 2022 HTHH eruption, the high-level stratospheric H 2 O anomaly at 2.1 hPa (~45 km altitude) dispersed rapidly west under the prevailing easterly phase of the QBO, and had almost entirely circled the globe by January 22, whilst H 2 O at lower altitudes (26 hPa) traveled more slowly (Millán et al., 2022). ...
Most volcanism on Earth is submarine, but volcanic gas emissions by submarine eruptions are rarely observed and hence largely unquantified. On 15 January 2022 a submarine eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano (Tonga) generated an explosion of historic magnitude, and was preceded by ∼1 month of Surtseyan eruptive activity and two precursory explosive eruptions. We present an analysis of ultraviolet (UV) satellite measurements of volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) between December 2021 and the climactic 15 January 2022 eruption, comprising an unprecedented record of Surtseyan eruptive emissions. UV measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) on Suomi-NPP, the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on ESA’s Sentinel-5P, and the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) are combined to yield a consistent multi-sensor record of eruptive degassing. We estimate SO 2 emissions during the eruption’s key phases: the initial 19 December 2021 eruption (∼0.01 Tg SO 2 ); continuous SO 2 emissions from 20 December 2021—early January 2022 (∼0.12 Tg SO 2 ); the 13 January 2022 stratospheric eruption (0.06 Tg SO 2 ); and the paroxysmal 15 January 2022 eruption (∼0.4–0.5 Tg SO 2 ); yielding a total SO 2 emission of ∼0.6–0.7 Tg SO 2 for the eruptive episode. We interpret the vigorous SO 2 emissions observed prior to the January 2022 eruptions, which were significantly higher than measured in the 2009 and 2014 HTHH eruptions, as strong evidence for a rejuvenated magmatic system. High cadence DSCOVR/EPIC SO 2 imagery permits the first UV-based analysis of umbrella cloud spreading and volume flux in the 13 January 2022 eruption, and also tracks early dispersion of the stratospheric SO 2 cloud injected on January 15. The ∼0.4–0.5 Tg SO 2 discharged by the paroxysmal 15 January 2022 HTHH eruption is low relative to other eruptions of similar magnitude, and a review of other submarine eruptions in the satellite era indicates that modest SO 2 yields may be characteristic of submarine volcanism, with the emissions and atmospheric impacts likely dominated by water vapor. The origin of the low SO 2 loading awaits further investigation but scrubbing of SO 2 in the water-rich eruption plumes and rapid conversion to sulfate aerosol are plausible, given the exceptional water emission by the 15 January 2022 HTHH eruption.
... The westward progression of orange sunsets around the globe in the tropics after the eruption of Krakatau in August 1883 showed that there was a layer of easterly winds in the tropical stratosphere at that time (Simkin and Fiske 1984;Winchester 2003;Hamilton 2012). In August 1908, Berson (1910) found a thin layer of westerly winds in pilot balloon observations over tropical Africa, underlying a layer of easterly winds. ...
The history of observational studies regarding the influence of the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) on the tropical and subtropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) is reviewed. QBO westerly (W) and easterly (E) phases are defined by zonal winds in the lower stratosphere. During 1960-1978, radiosonde data revealed a QBO modulation of the UTLS, with a warm anomaly during QBO W in the tropics, and cool anomalies near 30°S and 30°N. This agreed with theory of the QBO mean meridional circulation (MMC), which predicted a coherent, anti-phased response between the tropics and subtropics. During 1978-1994, satellite observations of aerosol and temperature confirmed the existence of the QBO MMC. During 1994-2001, global data sets enabled analysis of zonal mean QBO variations in tropopause temperature. In 2001, National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalyses for the 42-yr period 1958-2000 revealed seasonal and geographical variations in QBO W-E tropopause temperature, pressure, and zonal wind, which are presented here. An update using the 38-yr Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 and 40-yr European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Reanalysis -Interim data sets provides a more complete view of seasonal and geographical variation.
The QBO range in tropical tropopause values is ∼ 0.5-2 K, ∼ 100-300 m, and ∼ 1-3 hPa, being colder and higher during QBO E, especially during boreal winter and spring. The QBO temperature signal tends to be larger near regions where deep convection is common. The QBO signal in the southern subtropics is enhanced during austral winter. During QBO W, the subtropical westerly jet is enhanced, while the Walker circulation is weaker, especially during boreal spring. A new climatology of zonal mean QBO anomalies in temperature, zonal wind, and MMC is presented. QBO E may enhance convection by reducing both static stability and wind shear in the UTLS.
... International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, (kph@hawaii.edu) et al., 1974;Labitzke and van Loon, 1999), personal memoirs (Lindzen, 1987;Reed, 2003;Wal- lace, 2015), comprehensive review articles covering tropical stratospheric dynamics (Wallace, 1973;Baldwin et al., 2001), as well as in specialised articles directly focused on the history of meteorological discoveries in the stratosphere (Maruyama, 1997;Hastenrath, 2006;Hamilton 2012). The present brief note points out a significant omission in all these earlier accounts and establishes the important contribution of James Sadler in the chain of discoveries that led to a correct understanding of the general circulation of the tropical stratosphere. ...
... Sereno Bishop, an amateur scientist in Honolulu, seems to have been the first to document the initial reports of the "Krakatoa sunsets" during the first days and weeks after the eruption. He concluded that the eruption had resulted in "a vast stream of smoke due west with great precision along a narrow equatorial belt with an enormous velocity, nearly around the globe" (Hamilton, 2012). His work was extended by Russell (1888) and established the presence of a strong (>30 m/s) equatorial easterly jet at heights we now know to correspond to the lower stratosphere. ...
... The story of the discovery of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is fascinating and has been recounted at various levels of detail in textbooks (Craig, 1965;Newell Kevin Hamilton International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, (kph@hawaii.edu) et al., 1974;Labitzke and van Loon, 1999), personal memoirs (Lindzen, 1987;Reed, 2003;Wallace, 2015), comprehensive review articles covering tropical stratospheric dynamics (Wallace, 1973;Baldwin et al., 2001), as well as in specialised articles directly focused on the history of meteorological discoveries in the stratosphere (Maruyama, 1997;Hastenrath, 2006;Hamilton 2012). The present brief note points out a significant omission in all these earlier accounts and establishes the important contribution of James Sadler in the chain of discoveries that led to a correct understanding of the general circulation of the tropical stratosphere. ...
... Sereno Bishop, an amateur scientist in Honolulu, seems to have been the first to document the initial reports of the "Krakatoa sunsets" during the first days and weeks after the eruption. He concluded that the eruption had resulted in "a vast stream of smoke due west with great precision along a narrow equatorial belt with an enormous velocity, nearly around the globe" (Hamilton, 2012). His work was extended by Russell (1888) and established the presence of a strong (>30 m/s) equatorial easterly jet at heights we now know to correspond to the lower stratosphere. ...
The role of the American meteorologist James Sadler in the 1960 discovery of the quasibiennial oscillation of the tropical stratosphere is revealed.
... Only sporadic information is available on the QBO before 1953. The first indirect indications of stratospheric wind variability relate to observations of volcanic plumes (Hamilton, 2012). The most famous example is the observation of the Krakatau volcanic plume in 1883, which circled the globe from east to west. ...
... These westerlies were confirmed by van Bemmelen and Braak (1910), who performed observations of upper-level winds in Batavia from 1909 to 1918. Lower stratospheric westerlies were also confirmed by the observations of another volcanic eruption plume (Semeru, 15 November 1911), as reported by Hann and Süring (Hamilton, 2012). Reconciling Berson's westerlies with the expected easterly winds remained a challenge until the discovery of the QBO in the 1960s (Hastenrath, 2007). ...
Effects of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) on tropospheric climate are
not always strong or they appear only intermittently. Studying them requires long
time series of both the QBO and climate variables, which has restricted
previous studies to the past 30–50 years. Here we use the benefits of an
existing QBO reconstruction back to 1908. We first investigate additional,
newly digitized historical observations of stratospheric winds to test the
reconstruction. Then we use the QBO time series to analyse atmospheric data
sets (reconstructions and reanalyses) as well as the results of coupled
ocean–atmosphere–chemistry climate model simulations that were forced with
the reconstructed QBO. We investigate effects related to (1) tropical–extratropical interaction in the stratosphere, wave–mean flow
interaction and subsequent downward propagation, and (2) interaction between
deep tropical convection and stratospheric flow. We generally find weak
connections, though some are statistically significant over the 100-year
period and consistent with model results. Apparent multidecadal variations
in the connection between the QBO and the investigated climate responses are
consistent with a small effect in the presence of large variability, with
one exception: the imprint on the northern polar vortex, which is seen in
recent reanalysis data, is not found in the period 1908–1957. Conversely, an
imprint in Berlin surface air temperature is only found in 1908–1957 but
not in the recent period. Likewise, in the model simulations both links
tend to appear alternatingly, suggesting a more systematic modulation due to a shift in the circulation, for example. Over the Pacific warm pool, we find
increased convection during easterly QBO, mainly in boreal winter in
observation-based data as well as in the model simulations, with large
variability. No QBO effects were found in the Indian monsoon strength or
Atlantic hurricane frequency.
... For instance, the report noted that the volcanic cloud circled the globe in little over 2 weeks, which points to strong easterly winds at high altitudes. These so-called "Krakatau easterlies" (Hamilton 2012) are now understood as a phase of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in the stratosphere (see Sect. 3.1.3). Humphreys (1913) and others discussed the cooling effect of large eruptions in the light of ice age theories-then a topic of interest. ...
Over the last 300 years, countless climatic variations at different places and times have been witnessed, some affecting millions of people and changing the course of history, some going largely unnoticed. In this chapter, I discuss selected climatic changes in European and global climate history from about 1700, the end of the Little Ice Age, to the present. The 20 events start with the cold Maunder Minimum and end with the global warming hiatus, covering different aspects of the climate system. We will encounter continental-scale temperature dips, hydroclimatic anomalies, perturbations of the stratosphere, and changes in atmospheric composition. Thereby, we will see the mechanisms discussed in Chap. 3 at work: oceanic modes and atmospheric variability, volcanic eruptions, and humans changing their environment.
... This view was put forth in text books until the early 1960s. The problem was only resolved when the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) was finally discovered around 1960 by REED et al. (1961) and VERYARD and EBDON (1961) (see also LABITZKE and VA N LOON, 1999;BALDWIN et al., 2001;HAMILTON, 2012). Today the QBO is considered important for understanding interannual variability in atmospheric dynamics and ozone (BALDWIN et al., 2001) and the effects of solar forcing on the polar stratosphere (e.g., LABITZKE et al., 2006). ...
In the first decades of the 20th century, aerological observations were for the first time performed in tropical regions. One of the most prominent endeavours in this respect was Arthur Berson's aerological expedition to East Africa. Although the main target was the East
African monsoon circulation, the expedition provided also other insights that profoundly changed meteorology and climatology. Berson observed that the tropical tropopause was much higher and colder than that over midlatitudes. Moreover, westerly winds were observed in the lower stratosphere,
apparently contradicting the high-altitude equatorial easterly winds that were known since the Krakatoa eruption (“Krakatoa easterlies(”). The puzzle was only resolved five decades later with the discovery of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). In this paper we briefly summarize
the expedition of Berson and review the results in a historical context and in the light of the current research. In the second part of the paper we re-visit Berson's early aerological observations, which we have digitized. We compare the observed wind profiles with corresponding profiles
extracted from the (“Twentieth Century Reanalysis(”, which provides global three-dimensional weather information back to 1871 based on an assimilation of sea-level and surface pressure data. The comparison shows a good agreement at the coast but less good agreement further inland,
at the shore of Lake Victoria, where the circulation is more complex. These results demonstrate that Berson's observations are still valuable today as input to current reanalysis systems or for their validation.
In the tropical stratosphere, deep layers of eastward and westward winds encircle the globe and descend regularly from the upper stratosphere to the tropical tropopause. With a complete cycle typically lasting almost 2.5 years, this quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is arguably the most predictable mode of atmospheric variability that is not linked to the changing seasons. The QBO affects climate phenomena outside the tropical stratosphere, including ozone transport, the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Madden–Julian Oscillation, and its high predictability could enable better forecasts of these phenomena if models can accurately represent the coupling processes. Climate and forecasting models are increasingly able to simulate stratospheric oscillations resembling the QBO, but exhibit common systematic errors such as weak amplitude in the lowermost tropical stratosphere. Uncertainties about the waves that force the oscillation, particularly the momentum fluxes from small-scale gravity waves excited by deep convection, make its simulation challenging. Improved representation of the processes governing the QBO is expected to lead to better forecasts of the oscillation and its impacts, increased understanding of unusual events such as the two QBO disruptions observed since 2016, and more reliable future projections of QBO behaviour under climate change. The Quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) describes alterations in the direction of tropical stratospheric winds and their downward propagation. This Review outlines the drivers, impacts and projected changes of the QBO, noting a likely weakening amplitude under anthropogenic warming. The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is a periodic wind variation in the equatorial stratosphere with a timescale of almost 2.5 years.The QBO affects predictability globally owing to its teleconnections to phenomena outside the tropical stratosphere.Many climate models are now able to simulate QBO-like oscillations, but with systematic errors including weak amplitude in the lowermost stratosphere.Improving the representation of the QBO in models is challenging owing to uncertainties in observations and in understanding of the waves that drive the oscillation.Climate models project a future weakening of the QBO amplitude.Although the QBO has historically been very predictable, since 2016 its regular cycling has been disrupted twice, for reasons not yet well understood. The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is a periodic wind variation in the equatorial stratosphere with a timescale of almost 2.5 years. The QBO affects predictability globally owing to its teleconnections to phenomena outside the tropical stratosphere. Many climate models are now able to simulate QBO-like oscillations, but with systematic errors including weak amplitude in the lowermost stratosphere. Improving the representation of the QBO in models is challenging owing to uncertainties in observations and in understanding of the waves that drive the oscillation. Climate models project a future weakening of the QBO amplitude. Although the QBO has historically been very predictable, since 2016 its regular cycling has been disrupted twice, for reasons not yet well understood.
The history of nineteenth‐century missions provide a fruitful field to explore the development of religious thought and practice in a secular setting. This article shows how the religious views of the clergyman and educator Sereno Edwards Bishop, born in Hawai‘i of American missionary parents, were shaped by his childhood among the mission community in Hawai‘i and by his American college education. These instilled in him a liberal approach to theology that was informed by a spiritually alert sense of Hawaiian geography and environment. Contrary to the notion that he cast his faith aside in addressing matters of wider social and political importance, Bishop emerges as someone who thought critically about mid‐nineteenth‐century Protestant Christianity, grounding his perspective on politics, society, and natural history in Hawai‘i according to his religious principles. Given Bishop’s specific intellectual and cultural heritage, it is difficult to subsume his perspective within broader narratives of American expansion; rather, both Pacific and mainland American elements shaped the thought of such mission‐descended figures.
Since 1953 meteorological balloon soundings from low-latitude stations have revealed that the prevailing winds in the equatorial stratosphere undergo a remarkable alternation between strong easterlies and strong westerlies in a cycle with a period averaging ~27 months. To understand the full range of the behavior of this ‘quasibiennial oscillation’ (QBO), attempts have been made to reconstruct the equatorial stratospheric winds in the pre-1953 era. This paper considers one approach to estimating winds in the distant past, through analysis of observations of the drift of stratospheric aerosol after volcanic eruptions. We review the famous case of the 1883 eruption of Krakatau and also deduce the winds following the major Caribbean island eruptions in May 1902. This 1902 wind estimate provides independent confirmation of a recently published reconstruction of the QBO.
