scholarly journals Radiative forcings for 28 potential Archean greenhouse gases

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1779-1801 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Byrne ◽  
C. Goldblatt

Abstract. Despite reduced insolation in the late Archean, evidence suggests a~warm climate which was likely sustained by a stronger greenhouse effect, the so-called faint young sun problem (FYSP). CO2 and CH4 are generally thought to be the mainstays of this enhanced greenhouse, though many other gases have been proposed. We present high accuracy radiative forcings for CO2, CH4, and 26 other gases, performing the radiative transfer calculations at line-by-line resolution and using HITRAN 2012 line data for background pressures of 0.5, 1, and 2 bar of atmospheric N2. For CO2 to resolve the FYSP alone at 2.8 Gyr BP (80% of present solar luminosity), 0.32 bar is needed with 0.5 bar of atmospheric N2, 0.20 bar with 1 bar of atmospheric N2, or 0.11 bar with 2 bar of atmospheric N2. For CH4, we find that near-infrared absorption is much stronger than previously thought, arising from updates to the HITRAN database. CH4 radiative forcing peaks at 10.3, 9, or 8.3 W m−2 for background pressures of 0.5, 1, or 2 bar, likely limiting the utility of CH4 for warming the Archean. For the other 26 HITRAN gases, radiative forcings of up to a few to 10 W m−2 are obtained from concentrations of 0.1–1 ppmv for many gases. For the 20 strongest gases, we calculate the reduction in radiative forcing due to overlap. We also tabulate the modern sources, sinks, concentrations, and lifetimes of these gases and summaries the literature on Archean sources and concentrations. We recommend the forcings provided here be used both as a first reference for which gases are likely good greenhouse gases, and as a standard set of calculations for validation of radiative forcing calculations for the Archean.

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 2011-2053 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Byrne ◽  
C. Goldblatt

Abstract. Despite reduced insolation in the late Archean, evidence suggests a warm climate which was likely sustained by a stronger greenhouse effect, the so-called Faint Young Sun Problem (FYSP). CO2 and CH4 are generally thought to be the mainstays of this enhanced greenhouse, though many other gases have been proposed. We present high accuracy radiative forcings for CO2, CH4 and 26 other gases, performing the radiative transfer calculations at line-by-line resolution and using HITRAN 2012 line data for background pressures of 0.5, 1, and 2 bar. For CO2 to resolve the FYSP alone, 0.21 bar is needed with 0.5 bar of atmospheric pressure, 0.13 bar with 1 bar of atmospheric pressures, or 0.07 bar with 2 bar of atmospheric pressure. For CH4, we find that near-infrared absorption is much stronger than previously thought, arising from updates to the HITRAN database. CH4 radiative forcing peaks at 10.3, 9, or 8.3 W m−2 for background pressures of 0.5, 1 or 2 bar, likely limiting the utility of CH4 for warming the Archean. For the other 26 HITRAN gases, radiative forcings of up to a few to 10 W m−2 are obtained from concentrations of 0.1–1 ppmv for many gases. We further calculate the reduction of radiative forcing due to gas overlap for the 20 strongest gases. We recommend the forcings provided here be used both as a first reference for which gases are likely good greenhouse gases, and as a standard set of calculations for validation of radiative forcing calculations for the Archean.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1097-1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. V. Kochanov ◽  
I. E. Gordon ◽  
L. S. Rothman ◽  
S. W. Sharpe ◽  
T. J. Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the recent article by Byrne and Goldblatt, "Radiative forcing for 28 potential Archean greenhouse gases", Clim. Past. 10, 1779–1801 (2014), the authors employ the HITRAN2012 spectroscopic database to evaluate the radiative forcing of 28 Archean gases. As part of the evaluation of the status of the spectroscopy of these gases in the selected spectral region (50–1800 cm−1), the cross sections generated from the HITRAN line-by-line parameters were compared with those of the PNNL database of experimental cross sections recorded at moderate resolution. The authors claimed that for NO2, HNO3, H2CO, H2O2, HCOOH, C2H4, CH3OH and CH3Br there exist large or sometimes severe disagreements between the databases. In this work we show that for only three of these eight gases a modest discrepancy does exist between the two databases and we explain the origin of the differences. For the other five gases, the disagreements are not nearly at the scale suggested by the authors, while we explain some of the differences that do exist. In summary, the agreement between the HITRAN and PNNL databases is very good, although not perfect. Typically differences do not exceed 10 %, provided that HITRAN data exist for the bands/wavelengths of interest. It appears that a molecule-dependent combination of errors has affected the conclusions of the authors. In at least one case it appears that they did not take the correct file from PNNL (N2O4 (dimer)+ NO2 was used in place of the monomer). Finally, cross sections of HO2 from HITRAN (which do not have a PNNL counterpart) were not calculated correctly in BG, while in the case of HF misleading discussion was presented there based on the confusion by foreign or noise features in the experimental PNNL spectra.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1985-2007
Author(s):  
R. V. Kochanov ◽  
I. E. Gordon ◽  
L. S. Rothman ◽  
S. W. Sharpe ◽  
T. J. Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the recent article by Byrne and Goldblatt, "Radiative forcing for 28 potential Archean greenhouse gases," Clim. Past. 10, 1779–1801 (2014), the authors employ the HITRAN2012 spectroscopic database to evaluate the radiative forcing of 28 Archean gases. As part of the evaluation of the status of the spectroscopy of these gases in the selected spectral region (50–1800 cm−1), the cross sections generated from the HITRAN line-by-line parameters were compared with those of the PNNL database of experimental cross sections recorded at moderate resolution. The authors claimed that for NO2, HNO3, H2CO, H2O2, HCOOH, C2H4, CH3OH and CH3Br there exist large or sometimes severe disagreements between the databases. In this work we show that for only three of these eight gases does a modest discrepancy exist between the two databases and we explain the origin of the differences. For the other five gases, the disagreements are not nearly at the scale suggested by the authors, while we explain some of the differences that do exist. In summary, the agreement between the HITRAN and PNNL databases is very good, although not perfect. Typically differences do not exceed 10%, provided that HITRAN data exist for the bands/wavelengths of interest. It appears that a molecule-dependent combination of errors have affected the conclusions of the authors. In at least one case it appears that they did not take the correct file from PNNL (N2O4 + NO2 dimer was used in place of the monomer). Finally, cross sections of HO2 from HITRAN (which do not have a PNNL counterpart) were not calculated correctly.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Totterdill ◽  
Tamás Kovács ◽  
Wuhu Feng ◽  
Sandip Dhomse ◽  
Christopher J. Smith ◽  
...  

Abstract. Fluorinated compounds such as NF3 and C2F5Cl (CFC-115) are characterised by very large global warming potentials (GWPs) which result from extremely long atmospheric lifetimes and strong infrared absorptions in the atmospheric window. In this study we have experimentally determined the infrared absorption cross-sections of NF3 and CFC-115, calculated the radiative forcing and efficiency using two radiative transfer models and identified the effect of clouds and stratospheric adjustment. The infrared cross sections are in good agreement with previous measurements, whereas the resulting radiative forcings and efficiencies are, on average, around 10 % larger. A whole atmosphere chemistry-climate model was used to determine the atmospheric lifetimes of NF3 and CFC-115 to be (616 ± 34) years and (492 ± 22) years, respectively. The GWPs for NF3 are estimated to be 14 600, 19 400 and 21 400 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively. Similarly, the GWPs for CFC-115 are 6120, 8060 and 8630 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively.


2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (22) ◽  
pp. 3703-3706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Djedjiga Belmiloud ◽  
Roland Schermaul ◽  
Kevin M. Smith ◽  
Nikolai F. Zobov ◽  
James W. Brault ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
pp. 11451-11463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Totterdill ◽  
Tamás Kovács ◽  
Wuhu Feng ◽  
Sandip Dhomse ◽  
Christopher J. Smith ◽  
...  

Abstract. Fluorinated compounds such as NF3 and C2F5Cl (CFC-115) are characterised by very large global warming potentials (GWPs), which result from extremely long atmospheric lifetimes and strong infrared absorptions in the atmospheric window. In this study we have experimentally determined the infrared absorption cross sections of NF3 and CFC-115, calculated the radiative forcing and efficiency using two radiative transfer models and identified the effect of clouds and stratospheric adjustment. The infrared cross sections are within 10 % of previous measurements for CFC-115 but are found to be somewhat larger than previous estimates for NF3, leading to a radiative efficiency for NF3 that is 25 % larger than that quoted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report. A whole atmosphere chemistry–climate model was used to determine the atmospheric lifetimes of NF3 and CFC-115 to be (509 ± 21) years and (492 ± 22) years, respectively. The GWPs for NF3 are estimated to be 15 600, 19 700 and 19 700 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively. Similarly, the GWPs for CFC-115 are 6030, 7570 and 7480 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively.


Author(s):  
Amanda C. Maycock ◽  
Christopher J. Smith ◽  
Alexandru Rap ◽  
Owain Rutherford

AbstractThe SOCRATES offline radiative transfer code is used to investigate the magnitude and structure of the instantaneous radiative forcing kernels (IRFKs) for five major greenhouse gases (GHGs; CO2, CH4, N2O, CFC-11, and O3). All gases produce IRFKs that peak in the tropical upper troposphere. In addition to differences in spectroscopic intensities and the position of absorption features relative to the peak of the Planck function for Earth’s temperature, the variation in current background concentration of gases substantially affects the IRFK magnitudes. When the background concentration of CO2 is reduced from parts per million to parts per trillion levels, the peak magnitude of the IRFK increases by a factor of 642. When all gases are set to parts per trillion concentrations in the troposphere, the peak IRFK magnitudes are 1.0, 3.0, 3.1, 58 and 75 Wm−2 ppmv−1 100 hPa−1 for CH4, CO2, N2O, O3 and CFC-11, respectively. The altitude of the IRFK maximum also differs, with the maximum for CFC-11 and water vapour occurring above 100 hPa while the other gases peak near 150-200 hPa. Overlap with water vapour absorption decreases the magnitude of the IRFKs for all the GHGs, particularly in the low-to-mid troposphere, but it does not strongly affect the peak IRFK altitude. Cloud radiative effects reduce the magnitude of the IRFK for CO2 by around 10-20% in the upper troposphere. The use of IRFKs to estimate IRF is found to be accurate for small amplitude perturbations, but becomes inaccurate for large amplitude changes (e.g. a doubling) for gases with a higher atmospheric optical depth.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 8089-8103 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kaspari ◽  
T. H. Painter ◽  
M. Gysel ◽  
S. M. Skiles ◽  
M. Schwikowski

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) and dust deposited on snow and glacier surfaces can reduce the surface albedo, accelerate snow and ice melt, and trigger albedo feedback. Assessing BC and dust concentrations in snow and ice in the Himalaya is of interest because this region borders large BC and dust sources, and seasonal snow and glacier ice in this region are an important source of water resources. Snow and ice samples were collected from crevasse profiles and snow pits at elevations between 5400 and 6400 m a.s.l. from Mera glacier located in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal during spring and fall 2009, providing the first observational data of BC concentrations in snow and ice from the southern slope of the Himalaya. The samples were measured for Fe concentrations (used as a dust proxy) via ICP-MS, total impurity content gravimetrically, and BC concentrations using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2). Measured BC concentrations underestimate actual BC concentrations due to changes to the sample during storage and loss of BC particles in the ultrasonic nebulizer; thus, we correct for the underestimated BC mass. BC and Fe concentrations are substantially higher at elevations < 6000 m due to post-depositional processes including melt and sublimation and greater loading in the lower troposphere. Because the largest areal extent of snow and ice resides at elevations < 6000 m, the higher BC and dust concentrations at these elevations can reduce the snow and glacier albedo over large areas, accelerating melt, affecting glacier mass balance and water resources, and contributing to a positive climate forcing. Radiative transfer modeling constrained by measurements at 5400 m at Mera La indicates that BC concentrations in the winter–spring snow/ice horizons are sufficient to reduce albedo by 6–10% relative to clean snow, corresponding to localized instantaneous radiative forcings of 75–120 W m−2. The other bulk impurity concentrations, when treated separately as dust, reduce albedo by 40–42% relative to clean snow and give localized instantaneous radiative forcings of 488 to 525 W m−2. Adding the BC absorption to the other impurities results in additional radiative forcings of 3 W m−2. The BC and Fe concentrations were used to further examine relative absorption of BC and dust. When dust concentrations are high, dust dominates absorption, snow albedo reduction, and radiative forcing, and the impact of BC may be negligible, confirming the radiative transfer modeling. When impurity concentrations are low, the absorption by BC and dust may be comparable; however, due to the low impurity concentrations, albedo reductions are small. While these results suggest that the snow albedo and radiative forcing effect of dust is considerably greater than BC, there are several sources of uncertainty. Further observational studies are needed to address the contribution of BC, dust, and colored organics to albedo reductions and snow and ice melt, and to characterize the time variation of radiative forcing.


TAPPI Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (05) ◽  
pp. 295-305
Author(s):  
Wesley Gilbert ◽  
Ivan Trush ◽  
Bruce Allison ◽  
Randy Reimer ◽  
Howard Mason

Normal practice in continuous digester operation is to set the production rate through the chip meter speed. This speed is seldom, if ever, adjusted except to change production, and most of the other digester inputs are ratioed to it. The inherent assumption is that constant chip meter speed equates to constant dry mass flow of chips. This is seldom, if ever, true. As a result, the actual production rate, effective alkali (EA)-to-wood and liquor-to-wood ratios may vary substantially from assumed values. This increases process variability and decreases profits. In this report, a new continuous digester production rate control strategy is developed that addresses this shortcoming. A new noncontacting near infrared–based chip moisture sensor is combined with the existing weightometer signal to estimate the actual dry chip mass feedrate entering the digester. The estimated feedrate is then used to implement a novel feedback control strategy that adjusts the chip meter speed to maintain the dry chip feedrate at the target value. The report details the results of applying the new measurements and control strategy to a dual vessel continuous digester.


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