scholarly journals Sensitivity of Global Modeling Initiative chemistry and transport model simulations of radon-222 and lead-210 to input meteorological data

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 3389-3406 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. Considine ◽  
D. J. Bergmann ◽  
H. Liu

Abstract. We have used the Global Modeling Initiative chemistry and transport model to simulate the radionuclides radon-222 and lead-210 using three different sets of input meteorological information: 1. Output from the Goddard Space Flight Center Global Modeling and Assimilation Office GEOS-STRAT assimilation; 2. Output from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies GISS II' general circulation model; and 3. Output from the National Center for Atmospheric Research MACCM3 general circulation model. We intercompare these simulations with observations to determine the variability resulting from the different meteorological data used to drive the model, and to assess the agreement of the simulations with observations at the surface and in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region. The observational datasets we use are primarily climatologies developed from multiple years of observations. In the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region, climatological distributions of lead-210 were constructed from ~25 years of aircraft and balloon observations compiled into the US Environmental Measurements Laboratory RANDAB database. Taken as a whole, no simulation stands out as superior to the others. However, the simulation driven by the NCAR MACCM3 meteorological data compares better with lead-210 observations in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region. Comparisons of simulations made with and without convection show that the role played by convective transport and scavenging in the three simulations differs substantially. These differences may have implications for evaluation of the importance of very short-lived halogen-containing species on stratospheric halogen budgets.

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 5325-5372 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. Considine ◽  
D. J. Bergmann ◽  
H. Liu

Abstract. We have used the Global Modeling Initiative chemistry and transport model to simulate the radionuclides radon-222 and lead-210 using three different sets of input meteorological information: 1. Output from the Goddard Space Flight Center Global Modeling and Assimilation Office GEOS-STRAT assimilation; 2. Output from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies GISS II′ general circulation model; and 3. Output from the National Center for Atmospheric Research MACCM3 general circulation model. We intercompare these simulations with observations to determine the variability resulting from the different meteorological data used to drive the model, and to assess the agreement of the simulations with observations at the surface and in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region. The observational datasets we use are primarily climatologies developed from multiple years of observations. In the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region, climatological distributions of lead-210 were constructed from ~25 years of aircraft and balloon observations compiled into the US Environmental Measurements Laboratory RANDAB database. Taken as a whole, no simulation stands out as superior to the others. However, the simulation driven by the NCAR MACCM3 meteorological data compares better with lead-210 observations in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region. Comparisons of simulations made with and without convection show that the role played by convective transport and scavenging in the three simulations differs substantially. These differences may have implications for evaluation of the importance of very short-lived halogen-containing species on stratospheric halogen budgets.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1449-1477 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Strahan ◽  
B. N. Duncan ◽  
P. Hoor

Abstract. Transport from the surface to the lowermost stratosphere can occur on timescales of a few months or less, making it possible for short-lived tropospheric pollutants to influence stratospheric composition and chemistry. Models used to study this influence must demonstrate the credibility of their chemistry and transport in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS). Data sets from satellite and aircraft instruments measuring CO, O3, N2O, and CO2 in the UT/LS are used to create a suite of diagnostics of the seasonally-varying transport into and within the lowermost stratosphere, and of the coupling between the troposphere and stratosphere in the extratropics. The diagnostics are used to evaluate a version of the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) Chemistry and Transport Model that uses a combined tropospheric and stratospheric chemical mechanism and meteorological fields from the GEOS-4 general circulation model. The diagnostics derived from N2O and O3 show that the model lowermost stratosphere (LMS) has realistic input from the overlying high latitude stratosphere in all seasons. Diagnostics for the LMS show two distinct layers. The upper layer (~350 K–380 K) has a strong annual cycle in its composition, while the lower layer, just above the tropopause, shows no seasonal variation in the degree of tropospheric coupling or composition. The GMI CTM agrees closely with the observations in both layers and is realistically coupled to the UT in all seasons. This study demonstrates the credibility of the GMI CTM for the study of the impact of tropospheric emissions on the stratosphere.


Oceanography ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Arbic ◽  
James Richman ◽  
Jay Shriver ◽  
Patrick Timko ◽  
Joseph Metzger ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 3817-3838
Author(s):  
Xiao Lu ◽  
Lin Zhang ◽  
Tongwen Wu ◽  
Michael S. Long ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Chemistry plays an indispensable role in investigations of the atmosphere; however, many climate models either ignore or greatly simplify atmospheric chemistry, limiting both their accuracy and their scope. We present the development and evaluation of the online global atmospheric chemical model BCC-GEOS-Chem v1.0, coupling the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (CTM) as an atmospheric chemistry component in the Beijing Climate Center atmospheric general circulation model (BCC-AGCM). The GEOS-Chem atmospheric chemistry component includes detailed tropospheric HOx–NOx–volatile organic compounds–ozone–bromine–aerosol chemistry and online dry and wet deposition schemes. We then demonstrate the new capabilities of BCC-GEOS-Chem v1.0 relative to the base BCC-AGCM model through a 3-year (2012–2014) simulation with anthropogenic emissions from the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). The model captures well the spatial distributions and seasonal variations in tropospheric ozone, with seasonal mean biases of 0.4–2.2 ppbv at 700–400 hPa compared to satellite observations and within 10 ppbv at the surface to 500 hPa compared to global ozonesonde observations. The model has larger high-ozone biases over the tropics which we attribute to an overestimate of ozone chemical production. It underestimates ozone in the upper troposphere which is likely due either to the use of a simplified stratospheric ozone scheme or to biases in estimated stratosphere–troposphere exchange dynamics. The model diagnoses the global tropospheric ozone burden, OH concentration, and methane chemical lifetime to be 336 Tg, 1.16×106 molecule cm−3, and 8.3 years, respectively, which is consistent with recent multimodel assessments. The spatiotemporal distributions of NO2, CO, SO2, CH2O, and aerosol optical depth are generally in agreement with satellite observations. The development of BCC-GEOS-Chem v1.0 represents an important step for the development of fully coupled earth system models (ESMs) in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (7) ◽  
pp. 1937-1954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leong Wai Siu ◽  
Kenneth P. Bowman

Abstract During the boreal warm season (May–September), the circulation in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere is dominated by two large anticyclones: the Asian monsoon anticyclone (AMA) and North American monsoon anticyclone (NAMA). The existence of the AMA has long been linked to Asian monsoon precipitation using the Matsuno–Gill framework, but the origin of the NAMA has not been clearly understood. Here the forcing mechanisms of the NAMA are investigated using a simplified dry general circulation model. The simulated anticyclones are in good agreement with observations when the model is forced by a zonally symmetric meridional temperature gradient plus a realistic geographical distribution of heating based on observed tropical and subtropical precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere. Model experiments show that the AMA and NAMA are largely independent of one another, and the NAMA is not a downstream response to the Asian monsoon. The primary forcing of the NAMA is precipitation in the longitude sector between 60° and 120°W, with the largest contribution coming from the subtropical latitudes within that sector. Experiments with idealized regional heating distributions reveal that the extratropical response to tropical and subtropical precipitation depends approximately linearly on the magnitude of the forcing but nonlinearly on its latitude. The AMA is stronger than the NAMA, primarily because precipitation in the subtropics over Asia is much heavier than at similar latitudes in the Western Hemisphere.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 5061-5080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Jucker

Abstract This work examines the life cycle of sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) from composites of a large number of events. The events are sampled from idealized general circulation model (GCM) integrations and form a database of several hundred major, displacement, splitting, and weak vortex events. It is shown that except for a few details, the generic zonal-mean evolution does not depend on the definition used to detect SSWs. In all cases, the composites show the stratosphere in a positive annular mode phase prior to the events and a barotropic response in the stratosphere at onset. There is a clear positive peak in upward Eliassen–Palm (EP) flux prior to the onset date in the stratosphere and a much weaker peak in the troposphere, making the evolution more consistent with the picture of the stratosphere acting as a variable filter of tropospheric EP flux, rather than SSWs being forced by a strong “burst” in the troposphere. When comparing composites of SSWs from the database with apparent influence at the surface (downward “propagating”) to those without such influence, the only significant differences are a somewhat more barotropic response at the onset date and longer persistence in the lower stratosphere after the onset for propagating SSWs. There is no significant difference in EP flux between propagating and nonpropagating events, and none of the definitions considered here shows a particular skill in selecting propagating events.


Cirrus ◽  
2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Del Genio

One of the great challenges in predicting the rate and geographical pattern of climate change is to faithfully represent the feedback effects of various cloud types that arise via different mechanisms in different parts of the atmosphere. Cirrus clouds are a particularly uncertain component of general circulation model (GCM) simulations of long-term climate change for a variety of reasons, as detailed below. First, cirrus encompass a wide range of optical thicknesses and altitudes. At one extreme are the thin tropopause cirrus that barely affect the short-wave albedo while radiating to space at very cold temperatures, producing a net positive effect on the planetary radiation balance and causing local upper troposphere warming, thus stabilizing the lapse rate. At the other extreme are thick cumulus anvil cirrus whose bases descend to the freezing level; these clouds produce significant but opposing short-wave and long-wave effects on the planetary energy balance while cooling the surface via their reflection of sunlight. In fact, satellite climatologies show a continuum of optical thicknesses between these two extremes (Rossow and Schiffer 1991). In a climate change, the net effect of cirrus might either be a positive or a negative feedback, depending on the sign and magnitude of the cloud cover change in each cloud-type category and the direction and extent of changes in their optical properties (see Stephens et al. 1990). Second, the dynamic processes that create cirrus are poorly resolved and different in different parts of the globe. In the tropics, small-scale convective transport of water from the planetary boundary layer to the upper troposphere is the immediate source of a significant fraction of the condensate in mesoscale cirrus anvils (see Gamache and Houze 1983), and ultimately the source of much of the water vapor that condenses out in large-scale uplift to form thinner cirrus. However, many observed thin cirrus cannot directly be identified with a convective source, suggesting that in situ upper troposphere dynamics and regeneration processes within cirrus (see Starr and Cox 1985) are important. In mid-latitudes, although summertime continental convection is a source of cirrus, in general cirrus is associated with mesoscale frontal circulations in synoptic-scale baroclinic waves and jet streaks (see Starr and Wylie 1990; Mace et al. 1995).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document