scholarly journals The Sectional Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosol module S3A-v1 within the LMDZ general circulation model: Description and evaluation against stratospheric aerosol observations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kleinschmitt ◽  
Olivier Boucher ◽  
Slimane Bekki ◽  
François Lott ◽  
Ulrich Platt

Abstract. Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in the climate system by affecting the Earth's radiative budget and the capabilities to simulate them interactively within global models are continuously improving. It is important to represent accurately both aerosol microphysical and atmospheric dynamical processes because together they affect the size distribution and the residence time of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere. The newly developed LMDZ-S3A model presented in this article uses a sectional approach for sulfate particles in the stratosphere and includes all the relevant microphysical processes, allowing full interaction between aerosol radiative effects and atmospheric dynamics. It reasonably reproduces aerosol observations in periods of low (background) and high (volcanic) stratospheric sulfate loading. Thus, it may serve as a tool to study the climate impacts of volcanic eruptions, as well as the deliberate anthropogenic injection of aerosols into the stratosphere, which has been proposed as a method of geoengineering to abate global warming.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3359-3378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kleinschmitt ◽  
Olivier Boucher ◽  
Slimane Bekki ◽  
François Lott ◽  
Ulrich Platt

Abstract. Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in the climate system by affecting the Earth's radiative budget as well as atmospheric chemistry, and the capabilities to simulate them interactively within global models are continuously improving. It is important to represent accurately both aerosol microphysical and atmospheric dynamical processes because together they affect the size distribution and the residence time of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere. The newly developed LMDZ-S3A model presented in this article uses a sectional approach for sulfate particles in the stratosphere and includes the relevant microphysical processes. It allows full interaction between aerosol radiative effects (e.g. radiative heating) and atmospheric dynamics, including e.g. an internally generated quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the stratosphere. Sulfur chemistry is semi-prescribed via climatological lifetimes. LMDZ-S3A reasonably reproduces aerosol observations in periods of low (background) and high (volcanic) stratospheric sulfate loading, but tends to overestimate the number of small particles and to underestimate the number of large particles. Thus, it may serve as a tool to study the climate impacts of volcanic eruptions, as well as the deliberate anthropogenic injection of aerosols into the stratosphere, which has been proposed as a method of geoengineering to abate global warming.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 359-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Arfeuille ◽  
D. Weisenstein ◽  
H. Mack ◽  
E. Rozanov ◽  
T. Peter ◽  
...  

Abstract. As the understanding and representation of the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climate have improved in the last decades, uncertainties in the stratospheric aerosol forcing from large eruptions are now linked not only to visible optical depth estimates on a global scale but also to details on the size, latitude and altitude distributions of the stratospheric aerosols. Based on our understanding of these uncertainties, we propose a new model-based approach to generating a volcanic forcing for general circulation model (GCM) and chemistry–climate model (CCM) simulations. This new volcanic forcing, covering the 1600–present period, uses an aerosol microphysical model to provide a realistic, physically consistent treatment of the stratospheric sulfate aerosols. Twenty-six eruptions were modeled individually using the latest available ice cores aerosol mass estimates and historical data on the latitude and date of eruptions. The evolution of aerosol spatial and size distribution after the sulfur dioxide discharge are hence characterized for each volcanic eruption. Large variations are seen in hemispheric partitioning and size distributions in relation to location/date of eruptions and injected SO2 masses. Results for recent eruptions show reasonable agreement with observations. By providing these new estimates of spatial distributions of shortwave and long-wave radiative perturbations, this volcanic forcing may help to better constrain the climate model responses to volcanic eruptions in the 1600–present period. The final data set consists of 3-D values (with constant longitude) of spectrally resolved extinction coefficients, single scattering albedos and asymmetry factors calculated for different wavelength bands upon request. Surface area densities for heterogeneous chemistry are also provided.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 967-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Arfeuille ◽  
D. Weisenstein ◽  
H. Mack ◽  
E. Rozanov ◽  
T. Peter ◽  
...  

Abstract. As the understanding and representation of the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climate have improved in the last decades, uncertainties in the stratospheric aerosol forcing from large eruptions are now not only linked to visible optical depth estimates on a global scale but also to details on the size, latitude and altitude distributions of the stratospheric aerosols. Based on our understanding of these uncertainties, we propose a new model-based approach to generating a volcanic forcing for General-Circulation-Model (GCM) and Chemistry-Climate-Model (CCM) simulations. This new volcanic forcing, covering the 1600–present period, uses an aerosol microphysical model to provide a realistic, physically consistent treatment of the stratospheric sulfate aerosols. Twenty-six eruptions were modeled individually using the latest available ice cores aerosol mass estimates and historical data on the latitude and date of eruptions. The evolution of aerosol spatial and size distribution after the sulfur dioxide discharge are hence characterized for each volcanic eruption. Large variations are seen in hemispheric partitioning and size distributions in relation to location/date of eruptions and injected SO2 masses. Results for recent eruptions are in good agreement with observations. By providing accurate amplitude and spatial distributions of shortwave and longwave radiative perturbations by volcanic sulfate aerosols, we argue that this volcanic forcing may help refine the climate model responses to the large volcanic eruptions since 1600. The final dataset consists of 3-D values (with constant longitude) of spectrally resolved extinction coefficients, single scattering albedos and asymmetry factors calculated for different wavelength bands upon request. Surface area densities for heterogeneous chemistry are also provided.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 3047-3065
Author(s):  
R. S. Smith

Abstract. FAMOUS is an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model of low resolution, based on version 4.5 of the UK MetOffice Unified Model. Here we update the model description to account for changes in the model as it is used in the CMIP5 EMIC model intercomparison project (EMICmip) and a number of other studies. Most of these changes correct errors found in the code. The EMICmip version of the model (XFXWB) has a better-conserved water budget and additional cooling in some high latitude areas, but otherwise has a similar climatology to previous versions of FAMOUS. A variant of XFXWB is also described, with changes to the dynamics at the top of the model which improve the model climatology (XFHCC).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman Fuglestvedt ◽  
Zhihong Zhuo ◽  
Michael Sigl ◽  
Matthew Toohey ◽  
Michael Mills ◽  
...  

<p>Large explosive volcanic eruptions inject sulphur into the stratosphere where it is converted to sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosols. Due to atmospheric circulation patterns, aerosols from high-latitude eruptions typically remain concentrated in the hemisphere in which they are injected. Eruptions in the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere could thus lead to a stronger hemispheric radiative forcing and surface climate response than tropical eruptions, a claim that is supported by a previous study based on proxy records and the coupled aerosol-general circulation model MAECHAM5-HAM. Additionally, the subsequent surface deposition of volcanic sulphate is potentially harmful to humans and ecosystems, and an improved understanding of the deposition over polar ice sheets can contribute to better reconstructions of historical volcanic forcing. On this basis, we model Icelandic explosive eruptions in a pre-industrial atmosphere, taking both volcanic sulphur and halogen loading into account. We use the fully coupled Earth system model CESM2 with the atmospheric component WACCM6, which extends to the lower thermosphere and has prognostic stratospheric aerosols and full chemistry. In order to study the volcanic impacts on the atmosphere, environment, and sulphate deposition, we vary eruption parameters such as sulphur and halogen loading, and injection altitude and season. The modelled volcanic sulphate deposition is compared to the deposition in ice cores following comparable historical eruptions. Furthermore, we evaluate the potential environmental impacts of sulphate deposition. To study inter-model differences, we also compare the CESM2-WACCM6 simulations to similar Icelandic eruption experiments simulated with MAECHAM5-HAM. </p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10027-10048 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Huszar ◽  
H. Teyssèdre ◽  
M. Michou ◽  
A. Voldoire ◽  
D. J. L. Olivié ◽  
...  

Abstract. Our work is among the first that use an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) with online chemistry to evaluate the impact of future aviation emissions on temperature. Other particularities of our study include non-scaling to the aviation emissions, and the analysis of models' transient response using ensemble simulations. The model we use is the Météo-France CNRM-CM5.1 earth system model extended with the REPROBUS chemistry scheme. The time horizon of our interest is 1940–2100, assuming the A1B SRES scenario. We investigate the present and future impact of aviation emissions of CO2, NOx and H2O on climate, taking into account changes in greenhouse gases, contrails and contrail-induced cirrus (CIC). As in many transport-related impact studies, we distinguish between the climate impacts of CO2 emissions and those of non-CO2 emissions. Aviation-produced aerosol is not considered in the study. Our modeling system simulated a notable sea-ice bias in the Arctic, and therefore results concerning the surface should be viewed with caution. The global averaged near-surface CO2 impact reaches around 0.1 K by the end of the 21st century, while the non-CO2 impact reaches 0.2 K in the second half of the century. The NOx emissions impact is almost negligible in our simulations, as our aviation-induced ozone production is small. As a consequence, the non-CO2 signal is very similar to the CIC signal. The seasonal analysis shows that the strongest warming due to aviation is modeled for the late summer and early autumn. In the stratosphere, a significant cooling is attributed to aviation CO2 emissions (−0.25 K by 2100). A −0.3 K temperature decrease is modeled when considering all the aviation emissions, but no significant signal appears from the CIC or NOx forcings in the stratosphere.


2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
pp. 1061-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celal S. Konor ◽  
Gabriel Cazes Boezio ◽  
Carlos R. Mechoso ◽  
Akio Arakawa

Abstract This paper presents the basic features of a newly developed planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization, and the performance assessment of a version of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) to which the parameterization is incorporated. The UCLA AGCM traditionally uses a framework in which a sigma-type vertical coordinate for the PBL shares a coordinate surface with the free atmosphere at the PBL top. This framework facilitates an explicit representation of processes concentrated near the PBL top, which is crucially important especially for predicting PBL clouds. In the new framework, multiple layers are introduced between the PBL top and earth’s surface, allowing for predictions of the vertical profiles of potential temperature, total water mixing ratio, and horizontal winds within the PBL. The vertically integrated “bulk” turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is also predicted for the PBL. The PBL-top mass entrainment is determined through an equation including the effects of TKE and the radiative and evaporative cooling processes concentrated near the PBL top. The surface fluxes are determined from an aerodynamic formula in which the velocity scale depends both on the square root of TKE and the grid-scale PBL velocity at the lowermost model layer. The turbulent fluxes within the PBL are determined through an approach that includes the effects of both large convective and small diffusive eddies. AGCM simulations with the new formulation of PBL are analyzed with a focus on the seasonal and diurnal variations. The simulated seasonal cycle of stratocumulus over the eastern oceans is realistic, as are the diurnal cycles of the PBL depth and precipitation over land. The simulated fluxes of latent heat, momentum, and shortwave radiation at the ocean surface and baroclinic activity in the middle latitudes show significant improvements over the previous versions of the AGCM based on the single-layer PBL.


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