SOLARIS-HEPPA – Solar Influences on Climate

Activity leaders

Katja Matthes
GEOMAR – Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research
Kiel, Germany

Bernd Funke
Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC
Granada, Spain

Working groups

The following working groups (WGs) were defined at SOLARIS-HEPPA meetings in 2016 (Matthes et al., 2017; SPARC Newsletter, 48, January 2017).

The WG leaders will coordinate the analyses within their WG. If you are interested in participating in one of the WGs, please get in touch with the respective WG leaders or contact Bernd Funke or " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katja Matthes.

Activity description

The importance of solar forcing on climate has now been recognised. However, the atmospheric solar signal and its transfer mechanism(s) still remain uncertain. To address these questions, the international working group SOLARIS (in 2012 renamed to SOLARIS-HEPPA) was created to clarify the effects of solar influence on climate with special focus on the importance of middle atmosphere chemical and dynamical processes and their coupling to the Earth’s surface with state-of-the art chemistry-climate models (CCMs) as well as mechanistic models and observations. We foster and initiate detailed studies on the “top-down” solar ultra-violet and the “bottom-up” total solar irradiance mechanisms, as well as on the impact of high-energy particles.

In addition, SOLARIS-HEPPA aims to provide a platform for the coordination and discussion of solar-related studies. This includes recommendations for the solar irradiance and solar proton flux data used to drive middle atmosphere and climate models within e.g. the SPARC CCMI activity and WCRP CMIP6 experiments.

The SOLARIS-HEPPA activity is an extension of the GRIPS solar influence intercomparison (Matthes et al., 2003; Kodera et al., 2003). SOLARIS joined with HEPPA (High Energy Particle Precipitation in the Atmosphere) in 2012, bringing together scientists involved in atmospheric modelling using state-of-the art CCMs and CTMs on one hand, and scientists involved in the analysis and generation of satellite data on the other. SOLARIS-HEPPA collaborates with a number of other programmes and groups, such as the initiatives CCMI, DynVar, the EU COST project: “Towards a sounder assessment of the impact of solar variability on the Earth’s climate”, as well as ROSMIC working group 1 of SCOSTEP’s VarSITI (Variability of the Sun and its Terrestrial Impact) programme. The joint SOLARIS-HEPPA initiative will provide a more complete picture of “Solar Influence on Climate” and will enhance the initiative’s visibility.

Published results

Journal publications:

Matthes, K., Funke, B., Anderson, M. E., Barnard, L., Beer, J., Charbonneau, P., Clilverd, M. A., Dudok de Wit, T., Haberreiter, M., Hendry, A., Jackman, C. H., Kretschmar, M., Kruschke, T., Kunze, M., Langematz, U., Marsh, D. R., Maycock, A., Misios, S., Rodger, C. J., Scaife, A. A., Seppälä, A., Shangguan, M., Sinnhuber, M., Tourpali, K., Usoskin, I., van de Kamp, M., Verronen, P. T., and S. Versick, 2017: Solar Forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2). Geosci. Model Dev., 10, doi:10.5194/gmd-10-2247-2017.

Funke, B., Ball, W., Bender, S., Gardini, A., Harvey, V. L., Lambert, A., López-Puertas, M., Marsh, D. R., Meraner, K., Nieder, H., Päivärinta, S.-M., Pérot, K., Randall, C. E., Reddmann, T., Rozanov, E., Schmidt, H., Seppälä, A., Sinnhuber, M., Sukhodolov, T., Stiller, G. P., Tsvetkova, N. D., Verronen, P. T., Versick, S., von Clarmann, T., Walker, K. A., and Yushkov, V., 2017: HEPPA-II model-measurement intercomparison project: EPP indirect effects during the dynamically perturbed NH winter 2008-2009, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3573-3604, doi:10.5194/acp-17-3573-2017.

Gillett, N. P., Shiogama, H., Funke, B., Hegerl, G., Knutti, R., Matthes, K., Santer, B. D., Stone, D., and C. Tebaldi, 2016: Detection and Attribution Model Intercomparison Project (DAMIP). Geosci. Model Dev., doi:10.5194/gmd-2016-74.

Kodera, K., Thiéblemont, R., Yukimoto, S., and Matthes, K., 2016: How can we understand the global distribution of the solar cycle signal on the Earth’s surface? Atmos. Chem. Phys. 16, 12925-12944, doi:10.5194/acp-16-12925-2016.

Misios, S., D.M. Mitchell, L. Gray, K. Tourpali, K. Matthes. L. Hood, H. Schmidt, G. Chiodo, R. Thielemont, E. Rozanov, and A. Krivolutsky, 2015: Solar Signals in CMIP-5 Simulations: Effects Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling, Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc., 142, doi:10.1002/qj.2695.

Hood, L., S. Misios, D. Mitchel, L.J. Gray, K. Tourpali, K. Matthes, H. Schmidt, G. Chiodo, R. Thiéblemont, E. Rozanov, D. Shindell, A. Krivolutsky, 2015: Solar Signals in CMIP-5 Simulations: The Ozone Response. Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc., DOI 10.1002/qj.2553.

Mitchell, D., S. Misios, L.J. Gray, K. Tourpali, K. Matthes, L. Hood, H. Schmidt, G. Chiodo, R. Thiéblemont, E. Rozanov, D. Shindell, A. Krivolutsky, 2015: Solar Signals in CMIP-5 Simulations: The Stratospheric Pathway. Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc, doi:10.1002/qj.2530.

Thiéblemont, R., K. Matthes, N. Omrani, K. Kodera, and F. Hansen, 2015: Solar forcing synchronizes decadal North Atlantic climate variability. Nat. Comm., doi: 10.1038/ncomms9268.

Ermolli, I., Matthes, K., Dudok de Wit, T., Krivova, N. A., Tourpali, K., Weber, M., Unruh, Y. C., Gray, L., Langematz, U., Pilewskie, P., Rozanov, E., Schmutz, W., Shapiro, A., Solanki, S. K., Thuillier, G., and T. N. Woods, 2013: Recent variability of the solar spectral irradiance and its impact on climate modelling. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3945-3977. doi: 10.5194/acp-13-3945-2013.

Funke, B., A. Baumgaertner, M. Calisto, T. Egorova, C.H. Jackman, J. Kieser, A. Krivolutsky, M. López-Puertas, D.R. Marsh, T. Reddmann, E. Rozanov, S.-M. Salmi, M. Sinnhuber, G.P. Stiller, P.T. Verronen, S. Versick, T. von Clarmann, T.Y. Vyushkova, N. Wieters, and J.M. Wissing, 2011: Composition changes after the “Halloween” solar proton event: the High-Energy Particle Precipitation in the Atmosphere (HEPPA) model versus MIPAS data intercomparison study. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11(3), 9089-9139.

Gray, L.J., J. Beer, M. Geller, J.D. Haigh, M. Lockwood, K. Matthes, U. Cubasch, D. Fleitmann, G. Harrison, L. Hood, J. Luterbacher, G. A. Meehl, D. Shindell, B. van Geel, and W. White, 2010: Solar Influences on Climate. Rev. Geophys., 48, RG4001, doi:10.1029/2009RG000282.

Manzini, E., and K. Matthes et al., 2010: Natural Variability of Stratospheric Ozone, Chapter 8 in SPARC CCMVal, SPARC CCMVal Report on the Evaluation of Chemistry-Climate Models, V. Eyring, T. G. Shepherd, D. W. Waugh (Eds.) SPARC Report No. 5, WCRP-X, WMO/TD-No. X.

Austin, J., K. Tourpali, E. Rozanov, H. Akiyoshi, S. Bekki, G. Bodeker, C. Brühl, N. Butchart, M. Chipperfield, M. Deushi, M. Giorgetta, L. Gray, K. Kodera, D. Kinnison, E. Manzini, D. Marsh, K. Matthes, T. Nagashima, T. Shepherd, K. Shibata, R. S. Stolarski, H. Struthers, 2008: Coupled chemistry climate simulations of the solar cycle in temperature and ozone. JGR 113, D11306, doi: 10.1029/2007JD009391.

SPARC activity updates:

SPARC Newsletter No. 48, 2017, p. 30: Update on SOLARIS-HEPPA Activities: New Working Groups, by K. Matthes, B. Funke, C. Randall, and P. Verronen

SPARC Newsletter No. 44, 2015, p. 14: Report on the 2nd Joint SOLARIS-HEPPA Meeting, 5-9 May 2014, Baden-Baden, Germany, by K. Matthes, B. Funke, and G. Stiller.

SPARC Newsletter No. 40, 2013, p. 33: Report on the 1st Joint SOLARIS-HEPPA Meeting, by  K. Matthes, B. Funke, and C. Randall.

SPARC Newsletter No. 36, 2011, p. 1: Report on 2010 SOLARIS Activities and Future Plans, by K. Matthes and K. Kodera.

SPARC Newsletter No. 36, 2011, p. 28: The High-Energy-Particle Precipitation in the Atmosphere (HEPPA) Model vs. Data Inter-comparison: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects, by B. Funke.

SPARC Newsletter No. 28, 2007, p. 19: Report on the first SOLARIS workshop, 4-6 October 2006, Boulder, Colorado, USA, by K. Matthes et al.

Website for further information

http://solarisheppa.geomar.de/