Sensitivity of nitrate aerosols to ammonia emissions and to nitrate chemistry: implications for present and future nitrate optical depth

Paulot, F.; Ginoux, P.; Cooke, W. F.; Donner, L. J.; Fan, S.; Lin, M.-Y.; Mao, J.; Naik, V.; Horowitz, L. W.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

Research article

|

09 Feb 2016

Research article |

| 09 Feb 2016

Sensitivity of nitrate aerosols to ammonia emissions and to nitrate chemistry: implications for present and future nitrate optical depth

F. Paulot, P. Ginoux, W. F. Cooke, L. J. Donner, S. Fan, M.-Y. Lin, J. Mao, V. Naik, and L. W. Horowitz

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Final revised paper (published on 09 Feb 2016)
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Preprint (discussion started on 22 Sep 2015)
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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC C8472: 'Review of Paulot et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Oct 2015
RC C9687: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 24 Nov 2015
AC C11621: 'Response to the reviewers' comments', Fabien Paulot, 15 Jan 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Fabien Paulot on behalf of the Authors (15 Jan 2016)

ED: Publish as is (20 Jan 2016) by Barbara Ervens

AR by Fabien Paulot on behalf of the Authors (22 Jan 2016) Author's response

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Short summary

We characterize the sensitivity of NO₃ optical depth (OD) to both the sources of its precursors (NH₃ and HNO₃) and to its surface sinks. Uncertainties in the heterogeneous chemistry of HNO₃ and the near-surface volatilization of NH₄NO₃ can cause up to 25 % difference in the global NO₃ OD. Simulated NO₃ OD increases little (< 30 %) in response to changes in emissions (2010 to 2050). Better constraints on the tropical flux of NH₃ into the free troposphere are needed to improve estimates of NO₃ OD.