Evaluation and intercomparison of global atmospheric transport models using<sup>222</sup>Rn and other short‐lived tracers

Jacob, Daniel J.; Prather, Michael J.; Rasch, Philip J.; Shia, Run‐Lie; Balkanski, Yves; Beagley, S. R.; Bergmann, D.; Blackshear, W. T.; Brown, Marie Annette; Chiba, Momoko; Chipperfield, Martyn P.; Grandpré, J. de; Dignon, J.; Feichter, J.; Genthon, Christophe; Grose, W. L.; Kasibhatla, P. S.; Köhler, I.; Kritz, Mark A.; Law, Kathy S.; Penner, Joyce E.; Ramonet, Michel; Reeves, Claire E.; Rotman, D.; Stockwell, D. Zoe; Velthoven, P. F. J. van; Verver, Gé; Wild, Oliver; Yang, Hu; Zimmermann, Peter

doi:10.1029/96jd02955

Cited by 294 publications

(266 citation statements)

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“…Rind and Lerner, 1996;Jacob et al, 1997;Rasch et al, 2000) are useful as a means of assessing some of the dynamical processes of the base models. Here, we perform a number of experiments to evaluate the convective transport, wet scavenging, inter-hemispheric transport, and boundary layer mixing in the HadGEM2-UKCA coupled model.…”

Section: Tracer Transport and Physical Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

et al. 2014

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Abstract. In this paper, we present a description of the tropospheric chemistry component of the UK Chemistry and Aerosols (UKCA) model which has been coupled to the Met Office Hadley Centre's HadGEM family of climate models. We assess the model's transport and scavenging processes, in particular focussing on convective transport, boundary layer mixing, wet scavenging and inter-hemispheric exchange. Simulations with UKCA of the short-lived radon tracer suggest that modelled distributions are comparable to those of other models and the comparison with observations indicate that apart from a few locations, boundary layer mixing and convective transport are effective in the model as a means of vertically redistributing surface emissions of radon. Comparisons of modelled lead tracer concentrations with observations suggest that UKCA captures surface concentrations in both hemispheres very well, although there is a tendency to underestimate the observed geographical and interannual variability in the Northern Hemisphere. In particular, UKCA replicates the shape and absolute concentrations of observed lead profiles, a key test in the evaluation of a model's wet scavenging scheme. The timescale for inter-hemispheric transport, calculated in the model using a simple krypton tracer experiment, does appear to be long relative to other models and could indicate deficiencies in tropical deep convection and/or insufficient boundary layer mixing. We also describe the main components of the tropospheric chemistry and evaluate it against observations and other tropospheric chemistry models. In particular, from a climate forcing perspective, present-day observed surface methane concentrations and tropospheric ozone concentrations are reproduced very well by the model, thereby making it suitable for long centennial integrations as well as studies of biogeochemical feedbacks. Results from both historical and future simulations with UKCA tropospheric chemistry are presented. Future projections of tropospheric ozone vary with the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP). In RCP2.6, for example, tropospheric ozone increases up to 2010 and then declines by 13 % of its year-2000 global mean by the end of the century. In RCP8.5, tropospheric ozone continues to rise steadily throughout the 21st century, with methane being the main driving factor. Finally, we highlight aspects of the UKCA model which are undergoing and/or have undergone recent developments and are suitable for inclusion in a next-generation Earth System Model.

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Section: Tracer Transport and Physical Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

et al. 2014

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“…Research on Rn-222 in the context of meteorology dates back to the 1920s [4] and has developed intensively since the 1960s. In most publications, Rn-222 has been used to study the atmosphere as a natural tracer of the processes of transport and dispersion of gases [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Rn-222 has also been used as an indicator of vertical mixing processes resulting in the atmospheric stability regime [12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

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confidence: 99%

Soil heat flux and air temperature as factors of radon (Rn-222) concentration in the near-ground air layer

Podstawczyńska

Pawlak

2016

Nukleonika

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IntroductionRadon (Rn-222), a radioactive gas with a half--life of 3.82 days, is emitted naturally (0.72-1.2 atoms·cm −2 ·s −1 ) from ice-free, unsaturated terrestrial surfaces [1,2]. The Rn-222 concentration in the near-surface air layer is undoubtedly strongly infl uenced by local conditions, which are connected with the environment of the gas emissions to the atmosphere (inter alia: geological formation, soil characteristics -radium content, permeability and porosity, temperature vertical profi le, soil heat fl ux, and humidity) and microclimatic conditions occurring in the near-ground air layer [3]. Research on Rn-222 in the context of meteorology dates back to the 1920s [4] and has developed intensively since the 1960s. In most publications, Rn-222 has been used to study the atmosphere as a natural tracer of the processes of transport and dispersion of gases [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Rn-222 has also been used as an indicator of vertical mixing processes resulting in the atmospheric stability regime [12][13][14][15][16][17]. The temporal variability of the Rn-222 concentration with reference to the meteorological variables (such as wind velocity and direction, atmospheric pressure, air tempera- Abstract. A unique, highly time-resolved, and synchronous three-year dataset of near-surface atmospheric radon-222 as well as soil heat fl ux and air temperature measurements at two sites (rural and urban) in Central Poland are investigated. The recognition of temporal variability of Rn-222 and selected meteorological variables in the urban and rural areas served to create two statistical models for estimation of this radionuclide concentration at 2 m a.g.l. The description of the relationships between the variables for individual months was established on the basis of an exponential function and an exponential function with time derivative of predictor to account for the hysteresis issue. The model with time derivative provided better results. The weakest fi tting of modelled data to empirical ones is observed for the winter months. During subsequent seasons, air temperature as well as QG-driven (soil heat fl ux) models exhibited very high agreement with the empirical data (MBE, RMSE, MAE, and 'index of agreement' by Willmott were used to evaluate the models). A restriction in the use of QG for Rn-222 concentration was observed only in winter in the case of snow cover occurrence, which reduces the daily QG variability.

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“…The emanation rate of 222 Rn was given a value of 1.0 atoms cm −2 s −1 for all the land areas between 60 • S and 60 • N, and 0.5 atoms cm −2 s −1 for the land areas between 60 • N and 70 • N, excluding Greenland, with no temporal variation (Jacob et al, 1997;Taguchi et al, 2002bTaguchi et al, , 2011. The emanation rate of 222 Rn from the ocean was set to 0 atoms cm −2 s −1 , since our study focused on the short term variations in atmospheric 222 Rn.…”

Section: -D Chemical Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide in East Asia derived from the observations of atmospheric radon-222 over the western North Pacific

Wada¹,

Matsueda²,

Murayama

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. We used the observed CO/ 222 Rn ratio in the Asian outflows at Minamitorishima (MNM), Yonagunijima (YON), and Ryori (RYO) in the western North Pacific from 2007 to 2011, together with a three-dimensional chemical transport model (STAG), in order to estimate anthropogenic emissions of CO in East Asia. The measurements captured highfrequency synoptic variations of enhanced 222 Rn (ERN) events associated with the long-range transport of continental air masses. 222 Rn and CO showed high correlation during the ERN events observed at MNM and YON in the winter and spring, but not at RYO. The STAG transport model reproduced well the concentrations of observed 222 Rn when forced with a constant and uniform flux density of 1.0 atom cm −2 s −1 , but underestimated the associated enhancement of synoptically variable CO caused by the underestimated flux values in the EDGAR ver. 4.1 emission database used in the model for East Asia. Better estimates for the East Asian emission were derived using a radon tracer method based on the difference in the enhancement ratio of CO/ 222 Rn between the observation and the model. The anthropogenic emissions of CO for China, Japan, and Korea were estimated to be 203 Tg CO yr −1 , 91 % of which originated in China. When compared with other estimated emissions of CO, our estimated result showed consistency with those of the inverse method, whereas the emission database of EDGAR was about 45 % smaller than our anthropogenic estimation for China.

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Evaluation and intercomparison of global atmospheric transport models using²²²Rn and other short‐lived tracers

Cited by 294 publications

References 110 publications

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

Soil heat flux and air temperature as factors of radon (Rn-222) concentration in the near-ground air layer

Evaluation of anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide in East Asia derived from the observations of atmospheric radon-222 over the western North Pacific

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Evaluation and intercomparison of global atmospheric transport models using222Rn and other short‐lived tracers

Cited by 294 publications

References 110 publications

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

Evaluation of the new UKCA climate-composition model – Part 2: The Troposphere

Soil heat flux and air temperature as factors of radon (Rn-222) concentration in the near-ground air layer

Evaluation of anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide in East Asia derived from the observations of atmospheric radon-222 over the western North Pacific

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Evaluation and intercomparison of global atmospheric transport models using²²²Rn and other short‐lived tracers