Idealized volcanic-forcing coupled climate model experiment using the 1991 Pinatubo forcing as used in the CMIP6 historical simulations. It is a Tier 1 (mandatory) VolMIP experiment based on a large ensemble of short-term “Pinatubo” climate simulations aimed at accurately estimating simulated responses to volcanic forcing that may be comparable to the amplitude of internal interannual climate variability. Initialization is based on equally distributed predefined states of ENSO (cold/neutral/warm states) and of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO, negative/neutral/positive states). Sampling of an eastern phase of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), as observed after the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, is preferred for those models that spontaneously generate such mode of stratospheric variability. VIRF diagnostics must be calculated for this experiment for the whole integration and for all ensemble members, as these are required for the “volc-pinatubo-strat”/“surf” experiments. A minimum length of integration of 3 years is requested.

Details about the experiment are provided by Zanchettin et al. (2016).

The dataset contains monthly values of selected variables spatially averaged over four regions. These are the full globe (GL), the Northern Hemisphere extratropics (30°-90°N, NH), the tropics (30°S-30°N, TR), and the Southern Hemisphere (30°-90°S, hereafter SH).

The considered variables have the following cmor names: hfls, hfss, pr, rlds, rldscs, rlus, rlut, rlutcs, rsds, rsdscs, rsdt, rsus, rsut, rsutcs, tas. Additionally, the climate indices NAO and Nino34 are part of the dataset.

Considered models are CanESM5, IPSL-CM6A-LR, GISS-E2.1-G, MIROC-ES2L, MPI-ESM1.2-LR (named MPI-ESM-LR in the files of this dataset) and UKESM1.

Considered experiments are piControl and volc-pinatubo-full, with initial date and final date as specified for each model in Zanchettin et al. (2021). Different realizations are considered for the participating models depending on availability.