Comparison of 2-D model simulations of ozone and nitrous oxide at high latitudes with stratospheric measurements

1992 ◽  
Vol 97 (D1) ◽  
pp. 939 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Proffitt ◽  
S. Solomon ◽  
M. Loewenstein
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 7813-7824 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Gattinger ◽  
E. Kyrölä ◽  
C. D. Boone ◽  
W. F. J. Evans ◽  
K. A. Walker ◽  
...  

Abstract. Observations of the mesospheric semi-annual oscillation (MSAO) in the equatorial region have been reported dating back several decades. Seasonal variations in both species densities and airglow emissions are well documented. The extensive observations available offer an excellent case study for comparison with model simulations. A broad range of MSAO measurements is summarised with emphasis on the 80–100 km region. The objective here is not to address directly the complicated driving forces of the MSAO, but rather to employ a combination of observations and model simulations to estimate the limits of some of the underlying dynamical processes. Photochemical model simulations are included for near-equinox and near-solstice conditions, the two times with notable differences in the observed MSAO parameters. Diurnal tides are incorporated in the model to facilitate comparisons of observations made at different local times. The roles of water vapour as the "driver" species and ozone as the "response" species are examined to test for consistency between the model results and observations. The simulations suggest the interactions between vertical eddy diffusion and background vertical advection play a significant role in the MSAO phenomenon. Further, the simulations imply there are rigid limits on vertical advection rates and eddy diffusion rates. For August at the Equator, 90 km altitude, the derived eddy diffusion rate is approximately 1 × 106 cm2 s−1 and the vertical advection is upwards at 0.8 cm s−1. For April the corresponding values are 4 × 105 cm2 s−1 and 0.1 cm s−1. These results from the current 1-D model simulations will need to be verified by a full 3-D simulation. Exactly how vertical advection and eddy diffusion are related to gravity wave momentum as discussed by Dunkerton (1982) three decades ago remains to be addressed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard F. Borchert ◽  
Alexander J. Winkler

<p>Vegetation in the northern high latitudes shows a characteristic pattern of persistent changes as documented by multi-decadal satellite observations. The prevailing explanation that these mainly increasing trends (greening) are a consequence of external CO<sub>2</sub> forcing, i.e., due to the ubiquitous effect of CO2-induced fertilization and/or warming of temperature-limited ecosystems, however does not explain why some areas also show decreasing trends of vegetation cover (browning). We propose here to consider the dominant mode of multi-decadal internal climate variability in the north Atlantic region, the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV), as the missing link in the explanation of greening and browning trend patterns in the northern high latitudes. Such a link would also imply potential for decadal predictions of ecosystem changes in the northern high latitudes.</p><p>An analysis of observational and reanalysis data sets for the period 1979-2019 shows that locations characterized by greening trends largely coincide with warming summer temperature and increasing precipitation. Wherever either cooling or decreasing precipitation occurs, browning trends are observed over this period. These precipitation and temperature patterns are significantly correlated with a North Atlantic sea surface temperature index that represents the AMV signal, indicating its role in modulating greening/browning trend patterns in the northern high latitudes.</p><p>Using two large ensembles of coupled Earth system model simulations (100 members of MPI-ESM-LR Grand Ensemble and 32 members of the IPSL-CM6A-LR Large Ensemble), we separate the greening/browning pattern caused by external CO<sub>2</sub> forcing from that caused by internal climate variability associated with the AMV. These sets of model simulations enable a clean separation of the externally forced signal from internal variability. While the greening and browning patterns in the simulations do not agree with observations in terms of magnitude and location, we find consistent internally generated greening/browning patterns in both models caused by changes in temperature and precipitation linked to the AMV signal. These greening/browning trend patterns are of the same magnitude as those caused by the external forcing alone. Our work therefore shows that internally-generated changes of vegetation in the northern lands, driven by AMV, are potentially as large as those caused by external CO<sub>2</sub> forcing. We thus argue that the observed pattern of greening/browning in the northern high latitudes could originate from the combined effect of rising CO<sub>2</sub> as well as the AMV.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.S. Falcão ◽  
C. Pinho ◽  
A.M.F.R. Pinto

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Zhang ◽  
H. S. Sundqvist ◽  
A. Moberg ◽  
H. Körnich ◽  
J. Nilsson ◽  
...  

Abstract. The climate response over northern high latitudes to the mid-Holocene orbital forcing has been investigated in three types of PMIP (Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project) simulations with different complexity of the modelled climate system. By first undertaking model-data comparison, an objective selection method has been applied to evaluate the capability of the climate models to reproduce the spatial response pattern seen in proxy data. The possible feedback mechanisms behind the climate response have been explored based on the selected model simulations. Subsequent model-model comparisons indicate the importance of including the different physical feedbacks in the climate models. The comparisons between the proxy-based reconstructions and the best fit selected simulations show that over the northern high latitudes, summer temperature change follows closely the insolation change and shows a common feature with strong warming over land and relatively weak warming over ocean at 6 ka compared to 0 ka. Furthermore, the sea-ice-albedo positive feedback enhances this response. The reconstructions of temperature show a stronger response to enhanced insolation in the annual mean temperature than winter and summer temperature. This is verified in the model simulations and the behaviour is attributed to the larger contribution from the large response in autumn. Despite a smaller insolation during winter at 6 ka, a pronounced warming centre is found over Barents Sea in winter in the simulations, which is also supported by the nearby northern Eurasian continental and Fennoscandian reconstructions. This indicates that in the Arctic region, the response of the ocean and the sea ice to the enhanced summer insolation is more important for the winter temperature than the synchronous decrease of the insolation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Böttcher ◽  
D. Weymann ◽  
R. Well ◽  
C. Von Der Heide ◽  
A. Schwen ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 17703-17721
Author(s):  
F. Friederich ◽  
T. von Clarmann ◽  
B. Funke ◽  
H. Nieder ◽  
J. Orphal ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present altitude dependent lifetimes of NOx, determined with MIPAS/ENVISAT, for the southern polar region after the solar proton event in October–November 2003. Varying in latitude and decreasing in altitude they range from about two days at 64 km to about 20 days at 44 km. The lifetimes are controlled by transport, mixing and photolysis. We infer dynamical lifetimes by comparison of the observed decay to photolytical lifetimes calculated with the SLIMCAT 3-D Model. Photochemical loss contributes to the observed NOx depletion by 10% at 44 km, increasing with altitude to 35% at 62 km at a latitude of –63° S. At higher latitudes, the contribution of photochemical loss can be even more important. In addition, we show the correlation of modeled ionization rates and observed NOx densities under consideration of the determined lifetimes of NOx, and calculate altitude dependent effective production rates of NOx due to ionization. For that we compare ionization rates of the AIMOS data base with the MIPAS measurements for the whole Austral polar summer 2003/04. We derive effective NOx-production rates to be applied to the AIMOS ionization rates which range from about 0.2 NOx-molecules per ion pair at 44 km to 0.9 NOx-molecules per ion pair at 54 km at a latitude of –63° S. At –73° S, the NOx-production rate ranges from about 0.2 NOx-molecules per ion pair at 44 km to 1.0 NOx-molecules per ion pair at 60 km. These effective production rates are considerably lower than predicted by box model simulations which could hint at an overestimation of the modeled ionization rates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1393-1408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minqiang Zhou ◽  
Bavo Langerock ◽  
Kelley C. Wells ◽  
Dylan B. Millet ◽  
Corinne Vigouroux ◽  
...  

Abstract. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas and it can also generate nitric oxide, which depletes ozone in the stratosphere. It is a common target species of ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) near-infrared (TCCON) and mid-infrared (NDACC) measurements. Both TCCON and NDACC networks provide a long-term global distribution of atmospheric N2O mole fraction. In this study, the dry-air column-averaged mole fractions of N2O (XN2O) from the TCCON and NDACC measurements are compared against each other at seven sites around the world (Ny-Ålesund, Sodankylä, Bremen, Izaña, Réunion, Wollongong, Lauder) in the time period of 2007–2017. The mean differences in XN2O between TCCON and NDACC (NDACC–TCCON) at these sites are between −3.32 and 1.37 ppb (−1.1 %–0.5 %) with standard deviations between 1.69 and 5.01 ppb (0.5 %–1.6 %), which are within the uncertainties of the two datasets. The NDACC N2O retrieval has good sensitivity throughout the troposphere and stratosphere, while the TCCON retrieval underestimates a deviation from the a priori in the troposphere and overestimates it in the stratosphere. As a result, the TCCON XN2O measurement is strongly affected by its a priori profile. Trends and seasonal cycles of XN2O are derived from the TCCON and NDACC measurements and the nearby surface flask sample measurements and compared with the results from GEOS-Chem model a priori and a posteriori simulations. The trends and seasonal cycles from FTIR measurement at Ny-Ålesund and Sodankylä are strongly affected by the polar winter and the polar vortex. The a posteriori N2O fluxes in the model are optimized based on surface N2O measurements with a 4D-Var inversion method. The XN2O trends from the GEOS-Chem a posteriori simulation (0.97±0.02 (1σ) ppb yr−1) are close to those from the NDACC (0.93±0.04 ppb yr−1) and the surface flask sample measurements (0.93±0.02 ppb yr−1). The XN2O trend from the TCCON measurements is slightly lower (0.81±0.04 ppb yr−1) due to the underestimation of the trend in TCCON a priori simulation. The XN2O trends from the GEOS-Chem a priori simulation are about 1.25 ppb yr−1, and our study confirms that the N2O fluxes from the a priori inventories are overestimated. The seasonal cycles of XN2O from the FTIR measurements and the model simulations are close to each other in the Northern Hemisphere with a maximum in August–October and a minimum in February–April. However, in the Southern Hemisphere, the modeled XN2O values show a minimum in February–April while the FTIR XN2O retrievals show different patterns. By comparing the partial column-averaged N2O from the model and NDACC for three vertical ranges (surface–8, 8–17, 17–50 km), we find that the discrepancy in the XN2O seasonal cycle between the model simulations and the FTIR measurements in the Southern Hemisphere is mainly due to their stratospheric differences.


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