- French National Centre for Scientific Research France
- University of Cambridge United Kingdom
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science United Kingdom
- Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Germany
- Sorbonne Paris Cité France
- University of Colorado System United States
- Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research Germany
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey United States
- Rutgers University United States
- Sorbonne University France
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado United States
- University of Saskatchewan Canada
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO, USA United States
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, University Corporation for Antmospheric Research, Library United States
- Institut für Atmosphäre und Klima ETH Zürich Switzerland
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Germany
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK United Kingdom
- Ca Foscari University of Venice Italy
- Max Planck Society Germany
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Library Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Germany
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research United States
- Max Planck Germany
- THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE United Kingdom
- Rutgers University New Brunswick United States
- National Center for Atmospheric Research | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research United States
- ETH Zurich Switzerland
- University of Leeds United Kingdom
- University of Colorado Boulder United States
- ETH Zurich Switzerland
- Department of Geography University of Cambridge United Kingdom
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics United States
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Scienc ETH Zürich Switzerland
- National Center for Atmospheric Research United States
- Department of Geography United Kingdom
- Department of Chemistry University of Cambridge United Kingdom
As part of the Model Intercomparison Project on the climatic response to Volcanic forcing (VolMIP), several climate modeling centers performed a coordinated pre-study experiment with interactive stratospheric aerosol models simulating the volcanic aerosol cloud from an eruption resembling the 1815 Mt. Tambora eruption (VolMIP-Tambora ISA ensemble). The pre-study provided the ancillary ability to assess intermodel diversity in the radiative forcing for a large stratospheric-injecting equatorial eruption when the volcanic aerosol cloud is simulated interactively. An initial analysis of the VolMIP-Tambora ISA ensemble showed large disparities between models in the stratospheric global mean aerosol optical depth (AOD). In this study, we now show that stratospheric global mean AOD differences among the participating models are primarily due to differences in aerosol size, which we track here by effective radius. We identify specific physical and chemical processes that are missing in some models and/or parameterized differently between models, which are together causing the differences in effective radius. In particular, our analysis indicates that interactively tracking hydroxyl radical (OH) chemistry following a large volcanic injection of sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an important factor in allowing for the timescale for sulfate formation to be properly simulated. In addition, depending on the timescale of sulfate formation, there can be a large difference in effective radius and subsequently AOD that results from whether the SO2 is injected in a single model grid cell near the location of the volcanic eruption, or whether it is injected as a longitudinally averaged band around the Earth.