Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 9 16 2009 10.5194/acp-9-6109-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/6109/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/6109/2009/acp-9-6109-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/6109/2009/acp-9-6109-2009.pdf 6109 6118 2009-08-25 The climatic effects of the direct injection of water vapour into the stratosphere by large volcanic eruptions M. M. Joshi m.m.joshi@reading.ac.uk G. S. Jones NCAS Climate, University of Reading, UK Hadley Centre for Climate Change, Met Office, UK We describe a novel mechanism that can significantly lower the amplitude of the climatic response to certain large volcanic eruptions and examine its impact with a coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model. If sufficiently large amounts of water vapour enter the stratosphere, a climatically significant amount of water vapour can be left over in the lower stratosphere after the eruption, even after sulphate aerosol formation. 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