The Indian Ocean Dipole response to external forcing in the coupled model intercomparison project phase 5 simulations of the last millennium

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a major mode of interannual climate variability, but its response to external climate forcings (i.e. solar forcing, volcanic radiative forcing (VRF) and greenhouse gas (GHG) radiative forcing) remains elusive. To improve our understanding of the variability of the IOD, it is necessary to investigate the IOD’s response to external forcings through multi-model simulations. Here a Granger causality test is used to examine the impact of external forcings on the IOD from past 1000 years simulations (850–1850 Common Era) derived from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models. The results show significant causal effects of VRF on the IOD in preindustrial times of the past 1000 years from the MPI-ESM-P, MRI-CGCM3, GISS-E2-R and CCSM4 models and uncertainties in the IOD’s responses to volcanic eruptions from other six models. Additionally, the phase responses (i.e. positive or negative) of the IOD to large volcanic eruptions remain unclear even from models showing significant causal impacts of VRF on the IOD. This result shows that the IOD exhibits a more complex response to volcanic forcing than the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The causal impact of solar forcing on the IOD is more likely to be weak in most models. The IOD’s response to GHG variations is not significant across all the models due to minor fluctuations in GHGs occurring during preindustrial times of the past 1000 years. Further analyses based on new, improved and higher resolution models might further our understanding of the IOD’s responses to external forcing.