The impact of northern, tropical, and southern volcanic eruptions on the Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) and the different response mechanisms arising due to differences in the volcanic forcing structure are investigated using the Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble (CESM-LME). Analysis of the simulations indicates that the Pacific features a significant El Niño–like SST anomaly 5–10 months after northern and tropical eruptions, and with a weaker such tendency after southern eruptions, possibly reflective of the weaker magnitude of these eruptions. The Niño-3 index peaks with a lag of one and a half years after northern and tropical eruptions. Two years after all three types of volcanic eruptions, a La Niña–like SST anomaly pattern over the equatorial Pacific is observed, which seems to form an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. The westerly wind anomaly over the western to central Pacific plays an essential role in favoring the development of an El Niño following all three types of eruptions. Thus, the key point of the question is to find the causes of the westerly wind enhancement. The shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) can explain the El Niño–like response to northern eruptions, which is not applicable for tropical or southern eruptions. The ocean dynamical thermostat mechanism is the fundamental cause of the anomalous westerly wind for all three types of eruptions.

Understanding the influence of volcanic eruptions on the hydroclimate over global monsoon regions is of great scientific and social importance. However, the link between the latitude of volcanic eruptions and related hydroclimate changes over global monsoon regions in the last millennium remains inconclusive. Here we show divergent hydroclimate responses after different volcanic eruptions based on large sets of reconstructions, observations, and climate model simulation. Both the proxy and observations show that Northern Hemispheric (Southern Hemispheric) monsoon precipitation is weakened by northern (southern) and tropical eruptions but is enhanced by the southern (northern) eruptions. A similar relationship is found in coupled model simulations driven by volcanic forcing. The model evidence indicates that the dynamic processes related to changes in atmospheric circulation play a dominant role in precipitation responses. The dry conditions over the Northern Hemisphere (Southern Hemisphere) and global monsoon regions following northern (southern) and tropical eruptions are induced through weakened monsoon circulation. The wet conditions over Northern Hemispheric (Southern Hemispheric) monsoon regions after southern (northern) eruptions are caused by the enhanced cross-equator flow. We extend our model simulation analysis from mean state precipitation to extreme precipitation and find that the response of the extreme precipitation is consistent with that of the mean precipitation but is more sensitive over monsoon regions. The response of surface runoff and net primary production is stronger than that of precipitation over some submonsoon regions. Our results imply that it is imperative to consider the potential volcanic eruptions at different hemispheres in the design of near-term decadal climate prediction experiments.

During summer 2021, Western North America (WNA) experienced an unprecedented heatwave with record-breaking high temperatures associated with a strong anomalous high-pressure system, i.e., a heat dome. Here, we use a flow analog method and find that the heat dome over the WNA can explain half of the magnitude of the anomalous temperature. The intensities of hot extremes associated with similar heat dome-like atmospheric circulations increase faster than background global warming in both historical change and future projection. Such relationship between hot extremes and mean temperature can be partly explained by soil moisture-atmosphere feedback. The probability of 2021-like heat extremes is projected to increase due to the background warming, the enhanced soil moisture-atmosphere feedback and the weak but still significantly increased probability of the heat dome-like circulation. The population exposure to such heat extremes will also increase. Limiting global warming to 1.5 °C instead of 2 °C (3 °C) would lead to an avoided impact of 53% (89%) of the increase in population exposure to 2021-like heat extremes under the RCP8.5-SSP5 scenario.