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Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lee, YH; Adams, PJ; Shindell, DT
Published in: Geoscientific Model Development
March 20, 2015

The TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics model has been integrated into the state-of-the-art general circulation model, GISS ModelE2. This paper provides a detailed description of the ModelE2-TOMAS model and evaluates the model against various observations including aerosol precursor gas concentrations, aerosol mass and number concentrations, and aerosol optical depths. Additionally, global budgets in ModelE2-TOMAS are compared with those of other global aerosol models, and the ModelE2-TOMAS model is compared to the default aerosol model in ModelE2, which is a one-moment aerosol (OMA) model (i.e. no aerosol microphysics). Overall, the ModelE2-TOMAS predictions are within the range of other global aerosol model predictions, and the model has a reasonable agreement (mostly within a factor of 2) with observations of sulfur species and other aerosol components as well as aerosol optical depth. However, ModelE2-TOMAS (as well as ModelE2-OMA) cannot capture the observed vertical distribution of sulfur dioxide over the Pacific Ocean, possibly due to overly strong convective transport and overpredicted precipitation. The ModelE2-TOMAS model simulates observed aerosol number concentrations and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations roughly within a factor of 2. Anthropogenic aerosol burdens in ModelE2-OMA differ from ModelE2-TOMAS by a few percent to a factor of 2 regionally, mainly due to differences in aerosol processes including deposition, cloud processing, and emission parameterizations. We observed larger differences for naturally emitted aerosols such as sea salt and mineral dust, as those emission rates are quite different due to different upper size cutoff assumptions.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Geoscientific Model Development

DOI

EISSN

1991-9603

ISSN

1991-959X

Publication Date

March 20, 2015

Volume

8

Issue

3

Start / End Page

631 / 667

Related Subject Headings

  • 37 Earth sciences
  • 04 Earth Sciences
 

Citation

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Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Lee, Y. H., Adams, P. J., & Shindell, D. T. (2015). Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations. Geoscientific Model Development, 8(3), 631–667. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-631-2015
Lee, Y. H., P. J. Adams, and D. T. Shindell. “Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations.” Geoscientific Model Development 8, no. 3 (March 20, 2015): 631–67. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-631-2015.
Lee YH, Adams PJ, Shindell DT. Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations. Geoscientific Model Development. 2015 Mar 20;8(3):631–67.
Lee, Y. H., et al. “Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations.” Geoscientific Model Development, vol. 8, no. 3, Mar. 2015, pp. 631–67. Scopus, doi:10.5194/gmd-8-631-2015.
Lee YH, Adams PJ, Shindell DT. Evaluation of the global aerosol microphysical ModelE2-TOMAS model against satellite and ground-based observations. Geoscientific Model Development. 2015 Mar 20;8(3):631–667.

Published In

Geoscientific Model Development

DOI

EISSN

1991-9603

ISSN

1991-959X

Publication Date

March 20, 2015

Volume

8

Issue

3

Start / End Page

631 / 667

Related Subject Headings

  • 37 Earth sciences
  • 04 Earth Sciences