scholarly journals Global radiative forcing of coupled tropospheric ozone and aerosols in a unified general circulation model

Author(s):  
Hong Liao
2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 1675-1702 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
G. Faluvegi ◽  
N. Bell

Abstract. Improved estimates of the radiative forcing from tropospheric ozone increases since the preindustrial have been calculated with the tropospheric chemistry model used at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) within the GISS general circulation model (GCM). The chemistry in this model has been expanded to include simplified representations of peroxyacetylnitrates and non-methane hydrocarbons in addition to background NOx-HOx-Ox-CO-CH4 chemistry. The GCM has improved resolution and physics in the boundary layer, improved resolution near the tropopause, and now contains a full representation of stratospheric dynamics. Simulations of present-day conditions show that this coupled chemistry-climate model is better able to reproduce observed tropospheric ozone, especially in the tropopause region, which is critical to climate forcing. Comparison with preindustrial simulations gives a global annual average radiative forcing due to tropospheric ozone increases of 0.30 W/m2 with standard assumptions for preindustrial emissions. Locally, the forcing reaches more than 0.8 W/m2 in parts of the northern subtropics during spring and summer, and is more than 0.6 W/m2 through nearly all the Northern subtropics and mid-latitudes during summer. An alternative preindustrial simulation with soil NOx emissions reduced by two-thirds and emissions of isoprene, paraffins and alkenes from vegetation increased by 50% gives a forcing of 0.33 W/m2. Given the large uncertainties in preindustrial ozone amounts, the true value may lie well outside this range.


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.


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