Articles | Volume 17, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10223-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10223-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Sep 2017
Research article |
| 01 Sep 2017
Harmattan, Saharan heat low, and West African monsoon circulation: modulations on the Saharan dust outflow towards the North Atlantic
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
Bernd Heinold
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
Ina Tegen
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
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In the austral dry season, the atmospheric composition over southern Africa is dominated by biomass burning aerosols and terrigenous aerosols (so-called mineral dust). This study suggests that the radiative effect of biomass burning aerosols needs to be taken into account to properly forecast dust emissions in Namibia.
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Mineral dust aerosol particles vary greatly in their composition depending on source region, which leads to different physicochemical properties. Most atmosphere–aerosol models consider mineral dust aerosols to be compositionally homogeneous, which ultimately increases model uncertainty. Here, we present an approach to explicitly consider the heterogeneity of the mineralogical composition for simulations of the Saharan atmospheric dust cycle with regard to dust transport towards the Atlantic.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2772, 2023
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The Aralkum is a new desert in Central Asia formed by the desiccation of the Aral Sea. This has created a source of atmospheric dust, with implications for the balance of solar and thermal radiation. Simulating these effects using a dust transport model, we find that Aralkum dust adds radiative cooling effects to the surface and atmosphere on average, but also adds heating events. Increases in surface pressure due to Aralkum dust strengthen the Siberian high and weaken the summer Asian heat low.
Bernd Heinold, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Matthew Christensen, Anne Kubin, Kevin Ohneiser, Kerstin Schepanski, Nick Schutgens, Fabian Senf, Roland Schrödner, Diego Villanueva, and Ina Tegen
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The extreme 2019–2020 Australian wildfires produced massive smoke plumes lofted into the lower stratosphere by pyrocumulonimbus convection. Most climate models do not adequately simulate the injection height of such intense fires. By combining aerosol-climate modeling with prescribed pyroconvective smoke injection and lidar observations, this study shows the importance of the representation of the most extreme wildfire events for estimating the atmospheric energy budget.
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We use 90,000 dust point source observations (DPS), identified in satellite imagery across 9 global dryland environments to develop a novel dust emission model performance assessment. We evaluate the albedo-based dust emission model (AEM), which agrees with dust emission observations, or lack of emission 71 % of the time. Modelled dust occurs 27 % of the time with no observation, caused mostly by the incorrect assumption of infinite sediment supply and lack of dynamic dust entrainment thresholds.
Adrian Chappell, Nicholas Webb, Mark Hennen, Charles Zender, Philippe Ciais, Kerstin Schepanski, Brandon Edwards, Nancy Ziegler, Sandra Jones, Yves Balkanski, Daniel Tong, John Leys, Stephan Heidenreich, Robert Hynes, David Fuchs, Zhenzhong Zeng, Marie Ekström, Matthew Baddock, Jeffrey Lee, and Tarek Kandakji
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Revised manuscript not accepted
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Trajectory dispersion models are powerful and intuitive tools for tracing air pollution through the atmosphere. But the turbulent nature of the atmospheric boundary layer makes it challenging to provide accurate predictions near the surface. To overcome this, we propose an approach using wind and turbulence information at high temporal resolution. Finally, we demonstrate the strength of our approach in a case study on dust emissions from agriculture.
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Mineral dust aerosols blown mostly from desert areas are a key player in the climate system. We use a new desert dust aerosol low-altitude concentration data set as well as additional information on the surface state and low-altitude winds to infer desert dust emission and source maps over North Africa. With 9 years of data, we observe a full seasonal cycle of dust emissions, differentiating morning and afternoon/evening emissions and providing a first glance at long-term changes.
Jamie R. Banks, Anja Hünerbein, Bernd Heinold, Helen E. Brindley, Hartwig Deneke, and Kerstin Schepanski
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Jamie R. Banks, Kerstin Schepanski, Bernd Heinold, Anja Hünerbein, and Helen E. Brindley
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Satellite observations are used to visualize dust storms over the Sahara, and specific infrared channel combinations can highlight dust with distinctive pink colours. Using output from a dust-atmosphere model to simulate satellite imagery, we explore the consequences of particle size, shape, and refractive index for the colour of dust in the imagery. Particles with a radius of ~ 1.5 microns perturb the colour the most and an assumption of spherical dust appears to be insufficient.
Jamie R. Banks, Helen E. Brindley, Georgiy Stenchikov, and Kerstin Schepanski
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Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Cyrille Flamant, Thibaut Dauhut, Cécile Kocha, Jean-Philippe Lafore, Chistophe Lavaysse, Fabien Marnas, Mohamed Mokhtari, Jacques Pelon, Irene Reinares Martínez, Kerstin Schepanski, and Pierre Tulet
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Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Kerstin Schepanski, and Jamie R. Banks
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M. Mallet, F. Dulac, P. Formenti, P. Nabat, J. Sciare, G. Roberts, J. Pelon, G. Ancellet, D. Tanré, F. Parol, C. Denjean, G. Brogniez, A. di Sarra, L. Alados-Arboledas, J. Arndt, F. Auriol, L. Blarel, T. Bourrianne, P. Chazette, S. Chevaillier, M. Claeys, B. D'Anna, Y. Derimian, K. Desboeufs, T. Di Iorio, J.-F. Doussin, P. Durand, A. Féron, E. Freney, C. Gaimoz, P. Goloub, J. L. Gómez-Amo, M. J. Granados-Muñoz, N. Grand, E. Hamonou, I. Jankowiak, M. Jeannot, J.-F. Léon, M. Maillé, S. Mailler, D. Meloni, L. Menut, G. Momboisse, J. Nicolas, T. Podvin, V. Pont, G. Rea, J.-B. Renard, L. Roblou, K. Schepanski, A. Schwarzenboeck, K. Sellegri, M. Sicard, F. Solmon, S. Somot, B Torres, J. Totems, S. Triquet, N. Verdier, C. Verwaerde, F. Waquet, J. Wenger, and P. Zapf
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The aim of this article is to present an experimental campaign over the Mediterranean focused on aerosol-radiation measurements and modeling. Results indicate an important atmospheric loading associated with a moderate absorbing ability of mineral dust. Observations suggest a complex vertical structure and size distributions characterized by large aerosols within dust plumes. The radiative effect is highly variable, with negative forcing over the Mediterranean and positive over northern Africa.
S. Groß, V. Freudenthaler, K. Schepanski, C. Toledano, A. Schäfler, A. Ansmann, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11067–11080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, 2015
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In June and July 2013 dual-wavelength lidar measurements were performed in Barbados to study long-range transported Saharan dust across the Atlantic Ocean and investigate transport-induced changes. The focus of our measurements is the intensive optical properties, the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio. While the lidar ratio shows no differences compared to the values of fresh Saharan dust, the particle linear depolarization ratio shows slight differences.
S. Fiedler, K. Schepanski, P. Knippertz, B. Heinold, and I. Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8983–9000, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8983-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8983-2014, 2014
N. Niedermeier, A. Held, T. Müller, B. Heinold, K. Schepanski, I. Tegen, K. Kandler, M. Ebert, S. Weinbruch, K. Read, J. Lee, K. W. Fomba, K. Müller, H. Herrmann, and A. Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2245–2266, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2245-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2245-2014, 2014
I. Tegen, K. Schepanski, and B. Heinold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2381–2390, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2381-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2381-2013, 2013
Andreas Walbröl, Janosch Michaelis, Sebastian Becker, Henning Dorff, Kerstin Ebell, Irina Gorodetskaya, Bernd Heinold, Benjamin Kirbus, Melanie Lauer, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Johanna Mayer, Hanno Müller, Roel A. J. Neggers, Fiona M. Paulus, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna E. Rückert, Imke Schirmacher, Nils Slättberg, André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8007–8029, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, 2024
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To support the interpretation of the data collected during the HALO-(AC)3 campaign, which took place in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic from 7 March to 12 April 2022, we analyze how unusual the weather and sea ice conditions were with respect to the long-term climatology. From observations and ERA5 reanalysis, we found record-breaking warm air intrusions and a large variety of marine cold air outbreaks. Sea ice concentration was mostly within the climatological interquartile range.
Cyrille Flamant, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Marco Gaetani, Kerstin Schepanski, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4265–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4265-2024, 2024
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In the austral dry season, the atmospheric composition over southern Africa is dominated by biomass burning aerosols and terrigenous aerosols (so-called mineral dust). This study suggests that the radiative effect of biomass burning aerosols needs to be taken into account to properly forecast dust emissions in Namibia.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Bernd Heinold, Julian Hofer, Ina Tegen, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1271–1295, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1271-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1271-2024, 2024
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Mineral dust aerosol particles vary greatly in their composition depending on source region, which leads to different physicochemical properties. Most atmosphere–aerosol models consider mineral dust aerosols to be compositionally homogeneous, which ultimately increases model uncertainty. Here, we present an approach to explicitly consider the heterogeneity of the mineralogical composition for simulations of the Saharan atmospheric dust cycle with regard to dust transport towards the Atlantic.
Jamie R. Banks, Bernd Heinold, and Kerstin Schepanski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2772, 2023
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The Aralkum is a new desert in Central Asia formed by the desiccation of the Aral Sea. This has created a source of atmospheric dust, with implications for the balance of solar and thermal radiation. Simulating these effects using a dust transport model, we find that Aralkum dust adds radiative cooling effects to the surface and atmosphere on average, but also adds heating events. Increases in surface pressure due to Aralkum dust strengthen the Siberian high and weaken the summer Asian heat low.
Michael Weger and Bernd Heinold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13769–13790, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13769-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13769-2023, 2023
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This study investigates the effects of complex terrain on air pollution trapping using a numerical model which simulates the dispersion of emissions under real meteorological conditions. The additionally simulated aerosol age allows us to distinguish areas that accumulate aerosol over time from areas that are more influenced by fresh emissions. The Dresden Basin, a widened section of the Elbe Valley in eastern Germany, is selected as the target area in a case study to demonstrate the concept.
Suvarna Fadnavis, Bernd Heinold, T. P. Sabin, Anne Kubin, Katty Huang, Alexandru Rap, and Rolf Müller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10439–10449, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10439-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10439-2023, 2023
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The influence of the COVID-19 lockdown on the Himalayas caused increases in snow cover and a decrease in runoff, ultimately leading to an enhanced snow water equivalent. Our findings highlight that, out of the two processes causing a retreat of Himalayan glaciers – (1) slow response to global climate change and (2) fast response to local air pollution – a policy action on the latter is more likely to be within the reach of possible policy action to help billions of people in southern Asia.
Fabian Senf, Bernd Heinold, Anne Kubin, Jason Müller, Roland Schrödner, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8939–8958, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8939-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8939-2023, 2023
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Wildfire smoke is a significant source of airborne atmospheric particles that can absorb sunlight. Extreme fires in particular, such as those during the 2019–2020 Australian wildfire season (Black Summer fires), can considerably affect our climate system. In the present study, we investigate the various effects of Australian smoke using a global climate model to clarify how the Earth's atmosphere, including its circulation systems, adjusted to the extraordinary amount of Australian smoke.
Bernd Heinold, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Matthew Christensen, Anne Kubin, Kevin Ohneiser, Kerstin Schepanski, Nick Schutgens, Fabian Senf, Roland Schrödner, Diego Villanueva, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9969–9985, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022, 2022
Short summary
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The extreme 2019–2020 Australian wildfires produced massive smoke plumes lofted into the lower stratosphere by pyrocumulonimbus convection. Most climate models do not adequately simulate the injection height of such intense fires. By combining aerosol-climate modeling with prescribed pyroconvective smoke injection and lidar observations, this study shows the importance of the representation of the most extreme wildfire events for estimating the atmospheric energy budget.
Michael Weger, Holger Baars, Henriette Gebauer, Maik Merkel, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Bernd Heinold
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 3315–3345, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3315-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3315-2022, 2022
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Numerical models are an important tool to assess the air quality in cities,
as they can provide near-continouos data in time and space. In this paper,
air pollution for an entire city is simulated at a high spatial resolution of 40 m.
At this spatial scale, the effects of buildings on the atmosphere,
like channeling or blocking of the air flow, are directly represented by diffuse obstacles in the used model CAIRDIO. For model validation, measurements from air-monitoring sites are used.
Mark Hennen, Adrian Chappell, Nicholas Webb, Kerstin Schepanski, Matthew Baddock, Frank Eckardt, Tarek Kandakji, Jeff Lee, Mohamad Nobakht, and Johanna von Holdt
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-423, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-423, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
We use 90,000 dust point source observations (DPS), identified in satellite imagery across 9 global dryland environments to develop a novel dust emission model performance assessment. We evaluate the albedo-based dust emission model (AEM), which agrees with dust emission observations, or lack of emission 71 % of the time. Modelled dust occurs 27 % of the time with no observation, caused mostly by the incorrect assumption of infinite sediment supply and lack of dynamic dust entrainment thresholds.
Adrian Chappell, Nicholas Webb, Mark Hennen, Charles Zender, Philippe Ciais, Kerstin Schepanski, Brandon Edwards, Nancy Ziegler, Sandra Jones, Yves Balkanski, Daniel Tong, John Leys, Stephan Heidenreich, Robert Hynes, David Fuchs, Zhenzhong Zeng, Marie Ekström, Matthew Baddock, Jeffrey Lee, and Tarek Kandakji
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-337, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Dust emissions influence global climate while simultaneously reducing the productive potential and resilience of landscapes to climate stressors, together impacting food security and human health. Our results indicate that tuning dust emission models to dust in the atmosphere has hidden dust emission modelling weaknesses and its poor performance. Our new approach will reduce uncertainty and driven by prognostic albedo improve Earth System Models of aerosol effects on future environmental change.
Tobias Peter Bauer, Peter Holtermann, Bernd Heinold, Hagen Radtke, Oswald Knoth, and Knut Klingbeil
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 4843–4863, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4843-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4843-2021, 2021
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We present the coupled atmosphere–ocean model system ICONGETM. The added value and potential of using the latest coupling technologies are discussed in detail. An exchange grid handles the different coastlines from the unstructured atmosphere and the structured ocean grids. Due to a high level of automated processing, ICONGETM requires only minimal user input. The application to a coastal upwelling scenario demonstrates significantly improved model results compared to uncoupled simulations.
Matthias Faust, Ralf Wolke, Steffen Münch, Roger Funk, and Kerstin Schepanski
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 2205–2220, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2205-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2205-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Trajectory dispersion models are powerful and intuitive tools for tracing air pollution through the atmosphere. But the turbulent nature of the atmospheric boundary layer makes it challenging to provide accurate predictions near the surface. To overcome this, we propose an approach using wind and turbulence information at high temporal resolution. Finally, we demonstrate the strength of our approach in a case study on dust emissions from agriculture.
Michael Weger, Oswald Knoth, and Bernd Heinold
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 1469–1492, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1469-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1469-2021, 2021
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Short summary
A new numerical air-quality transport model for cities is presented, in which buildings are described diffusively. The used diffusive-obstacles approach helps to reduce the computational costs for high-resolution simulations as the grid spacing can be more coarse than in traditional approaches. The research which led to this model development was primarily motivated by the need for a computationally feasible downscaling tool for urban wind and pollution fields from meteorological model output.
Sophie Vandenbussche, Sieglinde Callewaert, Kerstin Schepanski, and Martine De Mazière
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15127–15146, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15127-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15127-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Mineral dust aerosols blown mostly from desert areas are a key player in the climate system. We use a new desert dust aerosol low-altitude concentration data set as well as additional information on the surface state and low-altitude winds to infer desert dust emission and source maps over North Africa. With 9 years of data, we observe a full seasonal cycle of dust emissions, differentiating morning and afternoon/evening emissions and providing a first glance at long-term changes.
Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, Mattia Righi, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Silke Groß, Daniel Sauer, Adrian Walser, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4287–4303, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4287-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4287-2020, 2020
Short summary
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Mineral dust aerosol plays an important role in the climate system. Previously, dust emissions have often been represented in global models by prescribed monthly-mean emission fields representative of a specific year. We now apply an online calculation of wind-driven dust emissions. This results in an improved agreement with observations, due to a better representation of the highly variable dust emissions. Increasing the model resolution led to an additional performance gain.
Robert J. Allen, Steven Turnock, Pierre Nabat, David Neubauer, Ulrike Lohmann, Dirk Olivié, Naga Oshima, Martine Michou, Tongwen Wu, Jie Zhang, Toshihiko Takemura, Michael Schulz, Kostas Tsigaridis, Susanne E. Bauer, Louisa Emmons, Larry Horowitz, Vaishali Naik, Twan van Noije, Tommi Bergman, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Prodromos Zanis, Ina Tegen, Daniel M. Westervelt, Philippe Le Sager, Peter Good, Sungbo Shim, Fiona O'Connor, Dimitris Akritidis, Aristeidis K. Georgoulias, Makoto Deushi, Lori T. Sentman, Jasmin G. John, Shinichiro Fujimori, and William J. Collins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9641–9663, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9641-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9641-2020, 2020
Christa Genz, Roland Schrödner, Bernd Heinold, Silvia Henning, Holger Baars, Gerald Spindler, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8787–8806, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8787-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8787-2020, 2020
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Atmospheric aerosols are the precondition for the formation of cloud droplets and thus have a large influence on cloud properties. Concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei of the period with highest aerosol concentrations over central Europe are uncertain. In this work, modeled estimates of CCN from today and the mid-1980s are compared to available in situ and remote sensing observations. A scaling factor between today and the 1980s for the CCN concentrations has been derived.
Tobias Donth, Evelyn Jäkel, André Ehrlich, Bernd Heinold, Jacob Schacht, Andreas Herber, Marco Zanatta, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8139–8156, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8139-2020, 2020
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Solar radiative effects of Arctic black carbon (BC) particles (suspended in the atmosphere and in the surface snowpack) were quantified under cloudless and cloudy conditions. An atmospheric and a snow radiative transfer model were coupled to account for radiative interactions between both compartments. It was found that (i) the warming effect of BC in the snowpack overcompensates for the atmospheric BC cooling effect, and (ii) clouds tend to reduce the atmospheric BC cooling and snow BC warming.
Montserrat Costa-Surós, Odran Sourdeval, Claudia Acquistapace, Holger Baars, Cintia Carbajal Henken, Christa Genz, Jonas Hesemann, Cristofer Jimenez, Marcel König, Jan Kretzschmar, Nils Madenach, Catrin I. Meyer, Roland Schrödner, Patric Seifert, Fabian Senf, Matthias Brueck, Guido Cioni, Jan Frederik Engels, Kerstin Fieg, Ksenia Gorges, Rieke Heinze, Pavan Kumar Siligam, Ulrike Burkhardt, Susanne Crewell, Corinna Hoose, Axel Seifert, Ina Tegen, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5657–5678, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5657-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5657-2020, 2020
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The impact of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds is a key uncertainty in climate change. This study analyses large-domain simulations with a new high-resolution model to investigate the differences in clouds between 1985 and 2013 comparing multiple observational datasets. The differences in aerosol and in cloud droplet concentrations are clearly detectable. For other quantities, the detection and attribution proved difficult, despite a substantial impact on the Earth's energy budget.
Alma Hodzic, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas A. Day, Karl D. Froyd, Bernd Heinold, Duseong S. Jo, Joseph M. Katich, John K. Kodros, Benjamin A. Nault, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Eric Ray, Jacob Schacht, Gregory P. Schill, Jason C. Schroder, Joshua P. Schwarz, Donna T. Sueper, Ina Tegen, Simone Tilmes, Kostas Tsigaridis, Pengfei Yu, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4607–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4607-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4607-2020, 2020
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Organic aerosol (OA) is a key source of uncertainty in aerosol climate effects. We present the first pole-to-pole OA characterization during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography aircraft mission. OA has a strong seasonal and zonal variability, with the highest levels in summer and over fire-influenced regions and the lowest ones in the southern high latitudes. We show that global models predict the OA distribution well but not the relative contribution of OA emissions vs. chemical production.
Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Ulrike Lohmann, Christof Gerhard Beer, Valerian Hahn, Bernd Heinold, Romy Heller, Martina Krämer, Michael Ponater, Christian Rolf, Ina Tegen, and Christiane Voigt
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 1635–1661, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1635-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1635-2020, 2020
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A new cloud microphysical scheme is implemented in the global EMAC-MADE3 aerosol model and evaluated. The new scheme features a detailed parameterization for aerosol-driven ice formation in cirrus clouds, accounting for the competition between homogeneous and heterogeneous ice formation processes. The comparison against satellite data and in situ measurements shows that the model performance is in line with similar global coupled models featuring ice cloud parameterizations.
Diego Villanueva, Bernd Heinold, Patric Seifert, Hartwig Deneke, Martin Radenz, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2177–2199, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2177-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2177-2020, 2020
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Spaceborne retrievals of cloud phase were analysed together with an atmospheric composition model to assess the global frequency of ice and liquid clouds. This analysis showed that at equal temperature the average occurrence of ice clouds increases for higher dust mixing ratios on a day-to-day basis in the middle and high latitudes. This indicates that mineral dust may have a strong impact on the occurrence of ice clouds even in remote areas.
Ying Chen, Yafang Cheng, Nan Ma, Chao Wei, Liang Ran, Ralf Wolke, Johannes Größ, Qiaoqiao Wang, Andrea Pozzer, Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon, Gerald Spindler, Jos Lelieveld, Ina Tegen, Hang Su, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 771–786, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-771-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-771-2020, 2020
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Particulate nitrate is one of the most important climate cooling agents. Our results show that interaction with sea-salt aerosol can shift nitrate to larger sized particles (redistribution effect), weakening its direct cooling effect. The modelling results indicate strong redistribution over coastal and offshore regions worldwide as well as continental Europe. Improving the consideration of the redistribution effect in global models fosters a better understanding of climate change.
Jacob Schacht, Bernd Heinold, Johannes Quaas, John Backman, Ribu Cherian, Andre Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Wan Ting Katty Huang, Yutaka Kondo, Andreas Massling, P. R. Sinha, Bernadett Weinzierl, Marco Zanatta, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11159–11183, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11159-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11159-2019, 2019
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The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of Earth. Black carbon (BC) aerosol contributes to this Arctic amplification by direct and indirect aerosol radiative effects while distributed in air or deposited on snow and ice. The aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM is used to estimate direct aerosol radiative effect (DRE). Airborne and near-surface BC measurements are used to evaluate the model and give an uncertainty range for the burden and DRE of Arctic BC caused by different emission inventories.
David Neubauer, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Colombe Siegenthaler-Le Drian, Philip Stier, Daniel G. Partridge, Ina Tegen, Isabelle Bey, Tanja Stanelle, Harri Kokkola, and Ulrike Lohmann
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3609–3639, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3609-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3609-2019, 2019
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The global aerosol–climate model ECHAM6.3–HAM2.3 as well as the previous model versions ECHAM5.5–HAM2.0 and ECHAM6.1–HAM2.2 are evaluated. The simulation of clouds has improved in ECHAM6.3–HAM2.3. This has an impact on effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–radiation and aerosol–cloud interactions and equilibrium climate sensitivity, which are weaker in ECHAM6.3–HAM2.3 than in the previous model versions.
Jamie R. Banks, Anja Hünerbein, Bernd Heinold, Helen E. Brindley, Hartwig Deneke, and Kerstin Schepanski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6893–6911, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6893-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6893-2019, 2019
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Saharan dust storms may be observed over the desert using false-colour infrared satellite imagery; in one widely used scheme dust displays characteristic pink colours. Simulating satellite imagery using a dust transport model, we confirm that water vapour is a major control on the apparent colour of dust in the false-colour imagery and that dust displays its deepest colours when it is at a high altitude and when the atmosphere is dry. Water vapour can obscure the presence of low-altitude dust.
Ina Tegen, David Neubauer, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Colombe Siegenthaler-Le Drian, Isabelle Bey, Nick Schutgens, Philip Stier, Duncan Watson-Parris, Tanja Stanelle, Hauke Schmidt, Sebastian Rast, Harri Kokkola, Martin Schultz, Sabine Schroeder, Nikos Daskalakis, Stefan Barthel, Bernd Heinold, and Ulrike Lohmann
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1643–1677, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1643-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1643-2019, 2019
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We describe a new version of the aerosol–climate model ECHAM–HAM and show tests of the model performance by comparing different aspects of the aerosol distribution with different datasets. The updated version of HAM contains improved descriptions of aerosol processes, including updated emission fields and cloud processes. While there are regional deviations between the model and observations, the model performs well overall.
Erlend M. Knudsen, Bernd Heinold, Sandro Dahlke, Heiko Bozem, Susanne Crewell, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Georg Heygster, Daniel Kunkel, Marion Maturilli, Mario Mech, Carolina Viceto, Annette Rinke, Holger Schmithüsen, André Ehrlich, Andreas Macke, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17995–18022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17995-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17995-2018, 2018
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The paper describes the synoptic development during the ACLOUD/PASCAL airborne and ship-based field campaign near Svalbard in spring 2017. This development is presented using near-surface and upperair meteorological observations, satellite, and model data. We first present time series of these data, from which we identify and characterize three key periods. Finally, we put our observations in historical and regional contexts and compare our findings to other Arctic field campaigns.
Michael Weger, Bernd Heinold, Christa Engler, Ulrich Schumann, Axel Seifert, Romy Fößig, Christiane Voigt, Holger Baars, Ulrich Blahak, Stephan Borrmann, Corinna Hoose, Stefan Kaufmann, Martina Krämer, Patric Seifert, Fabian Senf, Johannes Schneider, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17545–17572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17545-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17545-2018, 2018
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The impact of desert dust on cloud formation is investigated for a major Saharan dust event over Europe by interactive regional dust modeling. Dust particles are very efficient ice-nucleating particles promoting the formation of ice crystals in clouds. The simulations show that the observed extensive cirrus development was likely related to the above-average dust load. The interactive dust–cloud feedback in the model significantly improves the agreement with aircraft and satellite observations.
Diego Villanueva, Bernd Heinold, Patric Seifert, Hartwig Deneke, Martin Radenz, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-1074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-1074, 2018
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Two different satellite products were analysed together with an atmospheric composition model to assess the global frequency of ice and liquid stratiform clouds. This analysis showed that at equal temperature the average occurrence of fully glaciated stratiform clouds was found to increase for higher dust mixing-ratios on a day-to-day basis in the mid- and high latitudes. This indicates that mineral dust may have a strong impact in the occurrence of ice clouds even in remote areas.
Harri Kokkola, Thomas Kühn, Anton Laakso, Tommi Bergman, Kari E. J. Lehtinen, Tero Mielonen, Antti Arola, Scarlet Stadtler, Hannele Korhonen, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Ulrike Lohmann, David Neubauer, Ina Tegen, Colombe Siegenthaler-Le Drian, Martin G. Schultz, Isabelle Bey, Philip Stier, Nikos Daskalakis, Colette L. Heald, and Sami Romakkaniemi
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 3833–3863, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3833-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3833-2018, 2018
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In this paper we present a global aerosol–chemistry–climate model with the focus on its representation for atmospheric aerosol particles. In the model, aerosols are simulated using the aerosol module SALSA2.0, which in this paper is compared to satellite, ground, and aircraft-based observations of the properties of atmospheric aerosol. Based on this study, the model simulated aerosol properties compare well with the observations.
Robert Wagner, Michael Jähn, and Kerstin Schepanski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11863–11884, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11863-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11863-2018, 2018
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Wildfires can disturb the lower tropospheric wind conditions and are able to mobilize and inject mineral dust particles into the atmosphere. This study presents a conceptual model of fire-driven dust emissions using large-eddy simulations and evaluates how efficiently wildfires are able to modify the near-surface winds. The results show that typical threshold velocities necessary for dust emission are frequently exceeded and wildfires should be considered a source of airborne mineral dust.
Wan Ting Katty Huang, Luisa Ickes, Ina Tegen, Matteo Rinaldi, Darius Ceburnis, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11423–11445, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11423-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11423-2018, 2018
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In this study, we investigated the potential impact on clouds and climate by organic particles emitted from the ocean surface, using a global climate model. These particles have previously been found to promote ice crystal formation, which may alter the properties of clouds. Our study, however, found a weak global impact by these particles, which brings into question their relative importance and points to the need for further verification with other models and at more regional scales.
Jamie R. Banks, Kerstin Schepanski, Bernd Heinold, Anja Hünerbein, and Helen E. Brindley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9681–9703, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9681-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9681-2018, 2018
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Satellite observations are used to visualize dust storms over the Sahara, and specific infrared channel combinations can highlight dust with distinctive pink colours. Using output from a dust-atmosphere model to simulate satellite imagery, we explore the consequences of particle size, shape, and refractive index for the colour of dust in the imagery. Particles with a radius of ~ 1.5 microns perturb the colour the most and an assumption of spherical dust appears to be insufficient.
Ying Chen, Ralf Wolke, Liang Ran, Wolfram Birmili, Gerald Spindler, Wolfram Schröder, Hang Su, Yafang Cheng, Ina Tegen, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 673–689, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-673-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-673-2018, 2018
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The heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O5 on particle surfaces is crucial for the nitrogen cycle in the atmosphere. The reaction rate is determined by meteorological and particle properties, but its parameterization in previous 3-D modelling studies did not comprehensively consider these parameters. We propose a parameterization to take these into account and improve nitrate prediction; we report that the organic coating suppression on the N2O5 reaction is not as important as expected in the EU.
Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Sabur F. Abdullaev, Abduvosit N. Makhmudov, Bakhron I. Nazarov, Georg Schettler, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, K. Wadinga Fomba, Konrad Müller, Bernd Heinold, Konrad Kandler, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14559–14577, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14559-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14559-2017, 2017
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The Central Asian Dust Experiment provides unprecedented data on vertically resolved aerosol optical properties over Central Asia from continuous 18-month polarization Raman lidar observations in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Central Asia is affected by climate change (e.g. glacier retreat) but in a large part missing vertically resolved aerosol measurements, which would help to better understand transport of dust and pollution aerosol across Central Asia and their influence on climate and health.
Sudhakar Dipu, Johannes Quaas, Ralf Wolke, Jens Stoll, Andreas Mühlbauer, Odran Sourdeval, Marc Salzmann, Bernd Heinold, and Ina Tegen
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2231–2246, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2231-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2231-2017, 2017
Jamie R. Banks, Helen E. Brindley, Georgiy Stenchikov, and Kerstin Schepanski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3987–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3987-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3987-2017, 2017
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From an 11-year analysis of satellite measurements of atmospheric dust presence over the Red Sea, it is clear that there is a strong north–south gradient in dust activity and a pronounced interannual variability in this activity. Analysing two commonly used satellite retrieval methods to quantify dust presence, we find that under the most extreme dust storm conditions the measured dust optical thicknesses can diverge strongly between the two methods.
Kerstin Schepanski, Marc Mallet, Bernd Heinold, and Max Ulrich
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14147–14168, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14147-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14147-2016, 2016
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EOF analysis is used to link the north African atmospheric dust cycle, particularly active dust source regions, dust emission fluxes, dust transport pathways towards the Mediterranean Sea and Europe as well as dust deposition rates with atmospheric circulation regimes, such as position and strength of the subtropical ridge and the Saharan heat low.
Luke B. Hande, Christa Engler, Corinna Hoose, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12059–12079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12059-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12059-2016, 2016
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An aerosol model was used to simulate the concentration of natural and anthropogenic aerosols over Germany. Using a detailed parameterization of CCN activation, which includes information of aerosol chemical and physical properties, CCN concentrations were calculated. Using these results, a series of best fit functions were used to define a new parameterization, which is a simple function of vertical velocity and pressure. The new parameterization is easy to implement in models.
María José Granados-Muñoz, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Ioannis Binietoglou, Sergio Nepomuceno Pereira, Sara Basart, José María Baldasano, Livio Belegante, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Adolfo Comerón, Giuseppe D'Amico, Oleg Dubovik, Luka Ilic, Panos Kokkalis, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Slobodan Nickovic, Doina Nicolae, Francisco José Olmo, Alexander Papayannis, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Alejandro Rodríguez, Kerstin Schepanski, Michaël Sicard, Ana Vukovic, Ulla Wandinger, François Dulac, and Lucas Alados-Arboledas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7043–7066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, 2016
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This study provides a detailed overview of the Mediterranean region regarding aerosol microphysical properties during the ChArMEx/EMEP campaign in July 2012. An in-depth analysis of the horizontal, vertical, and temporal dimensions is performed using LIRIC, proving the algorithm's ability in automated retrieval of microphysical property profiles within a network. A validation of four dust models is included, obtaining fair good agreement, especially for the vertical distribution of the aerosol.
Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Cyrille Flamant, Thibaut Dauhut, Cécile Kocha, Jean-Philippe Lafore, Chistophe Lavaysse, Fabien Marnas, Mohamed Mokhtari, Jacques Pelon, Irene Reinares Martínez, Kerstin Schepanski, and Pierre Tulet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6977–6995, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6977-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6977-2016, 2016
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The Fennec field campaign conducted in June 2011 led to the first observational data set ever obtained that documents the Saharan atmospheric boundary layer under the influence of the heat low. In addition to the aircraft operation, four dust forecasts were run at low and high resolutions with convection-parameterizing and convection-permitting models, respectively. The unique airborne and ground-based data sets allowed the first ever intercomparison of dust forecasts over the western Sahara.
Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Kerstin Schepanski, and Jamie R. Banks
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 765–777, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-765-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-765-2016, 2016
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In the aerosol-climate model ECHAM6-HAM2, dust source activation (DSA) observations from MSG satellite are used to replace the current Saharan source map. The new setup provides more realistically distributed, up to 20 % higher annual Saharan emissions. Modeled dust AOT is partly improved in the Sahara-Sahel region, as is the spatial variability. As a comparison to sub-daily MSG DSAs and a regional model shows, the representation of meteorological drivers of dust uplift remains a critical issue.
M. Mallet, F. Dulac, P. Formenti, P. Nabat, J. Sciare, G. Roberts, J. Pelon, G. Ancellet, D. Tanré, F. Parol, C. Denjean, G. Brogniez, A. di Sarra, L. Alados-Arboledas, J. Arndt, F. Auriol, L. Blarel, T. Bourrianne, P. Chazette, S. Chevaillier, M. Claeys, B. D'Anna, Y. Derimian, K. Desboeufs, T. Di Iorio, J.-F. Doussin, P. Durand, A. Féron, E. Freney, C. Gaimoz, P. Goloub, J. L. Gómez-Amo, M. J. Granados-Muñoz, N. Grand, E. Hamonou, I. Jankowiak, M. Jeannot, J.-F. Léon, M. Maillé, S. Mailler, D. Meloni, L. Menut, G. Momboisse, J. Nicolas, T. Podvin, V. Pont, G. Rea, J.-B. Renard, L. Roblou, K. Schepanski, A. Schwarzenboeck, K. Sellegri, M. Sicard, F. Solmon, S. Somot, B Torres, J. Totems, S. Triquet, N. Verdier, C. Verwaerde, F. Waquet, J. Wenger, and P. Zapf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 455–504, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-455-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-455-2016, 2016
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The aim of this article is to present an experimental campaign over the Mediterranean focused on aerosol-radiation measurements and modeling. Results indicate an important atmospheric loading associated with a moderate absorbing ability of mineral dust. Observations suggest a complex vertical structure and size distributions characterized by large aerosols within dust plumes. The radiative effect is highly variable, with negative forcing over the Mediterranean and positive over northern Africa.
S. Groß, V. Freudenthaler, K. Schepanski, C. Toledano, A. Schäfler, A. Ansmann, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11067–11080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, 2015
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In June and July 2013 dual-wavelength lidar measurements were performed in Barbados to study long-range transported Saharan dust across the Atlantic Ocean and investigate transport-induced changes. The focus of our measurements is the intensive optical properties, the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio. While the lidar ratio shows no differences compared to the values of fresh Saharan dust, the particle linear depolarization ratio shows slight differences.
M. Simmel, J. Bühl, A. Ansmann, and I. Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10453–10470, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10453-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10453-2015, 2015
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The paper combines remote sensing observations and detailed cloud modeling. It was shown that the main features of the observations could be captured which allows one to perform sensitivity studies. Those show that the liquid phase is mainly determined by the dynamical parameters of the model, whereas the ice phase is dominated by microphysical parameters such as ice nuclei number and ice particle shape.
L. B. Hande, C. Engler, C. Hoose, and I. Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 4389–4397, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-4389-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-4389-2015, 2015
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Dust is a significant aerosol on seasonal timescales. There are large differences in dust and INP concentrations between seasons. The INP concentrations have a different vertical distribution than other common parameterisations suggest. We provide a new formulation to estimate the INP particles formed on dust aerosols, for use in process studies and regional simulations over Europe. The new formulation captures a much more realistic seasonal variability and vertical profile.
S. Fiedler, K. Schepanski, P. Knippertz, B. Heinold, and I. Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8983–9000, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8983-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8983-2014, 2014
N. Niedermeier, A. Held, T. Müller, B. Heinold, K. Schepanski, I. Tegen, K. Kandler, M. Ebert, S. Weinbruch, K. Read, J. Lee, K. W. Fomba, K. Müller, H. Herrmann, and A. Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2245–2266, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2245-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2245-2014, 2014
I. Tegen, K. Schepanski, and B. Heinold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2381–2390, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2381-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2381-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Decomposing the effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols based on CMIP6 Earth system models
Modeling impacts of dust mineralogy on fast climate response
Uncertainties in laboratory-measured shortwave refractive indices of mineral dust aerosols and derived optical properties: a theoretical assessment
Diagnosing uncertainties in global biomass burning emission inventories and their impact on modeled air pollutants
Role of atmospheric aerosols in severe winter fog over the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India: a case study
Long-term variability in black carbon emissions constrained by gap-filled absorption aerosol optical depth and associated premature mortality in China
Intercomparison of aerosol optical depths from four reanalyses and their multi-reanalysis consensus
Global aviation contrail climate effects from 2019 to 2021
Rapid iodine oxoacid nucleation enhanced by dimethylamine in broad marine regions
Simulations of the impact of cloud condensation nuclei and ice-nucleating particles perturbations on the microphysics and radar reflectivity factor of stratiform mixed-phase clouds
Aerosols in the central Arctic cryosphere: satellite and model integrated insights during Arctic spring and summer
Observationally constrained regional variations of shortwave absorption by iron oxides emphasize the cooling effect of dust
Droplet collection efficiencies inferred from satellite retrievals constrain effective radiative forcing of aerosol–cloud interactions
Global aerosol-type classification using a new hybrid algorithm and Aerosol Robotic Network data
Simulated phase state and viscosity of secondary organic aerosols over China
Comparing the simulated influence of biomass burning plumes on low-level clouds over the southeastern Atlantic under varying smoke conditions
Improved simulations of biomass burning aerosol optical properties and lifetimes in the NASA GEOS Model during the ORACLES-I campaign
Sharp increase in Saharan dust intrusions over the western Euro-Mediterranean in February–March 2020–2022 and associated atmospheric circulation
Temporal and spatial variations in dust activity in Australia based on remote sensing and reanalysis datasets
Sensitivity of global direct aerosol shortwave radiative forcing to uncertainties in aerosol optical properties
Molecular-level study on the role of methanesulfonic acid in iodine oxoacid nucleation
Regional to global distributions, trends, and drivers of biogenic volatile organic compound emission from 2001 to 2020
Impacts of ice-nucleating particles on cirrus clouds and radiation derived from global model simulations with MADE3 in EMAC
Seasonal characteristics of emission, distribution, and radiative effect of marine organic aerosols over the western Pacific Ocean: an investigation with a coupled regional climate aerosol model
Fire–precipitation interactions amplify the quasi-biennial variability in fires over southern Mexico and Central America
Improved estimates of smoke exposure during Australia fire seasons: importance of quantifying plume injection heights
New particle formation induced by anthropogenic–biogenic interactions on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau
Investigation of observed dust trends over the Middle East region in NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model simulations
A new process-based and scale-aware desert dust emission scheme for global climate models – Part II: Evaluation in the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2)
How well do Earth system models reproduce the observed aerosol response to rapid emission reductions? A COVID-19 case study
In-plume and out-of-plume analysis of aerosol-cloud interactions derived from the 2014–15 Holuhraun volcanic eruption
Observationally constrained analysis of sulfur cycle in the marine atmosphere with NASA ATom measurements and AeroCom model simulations
Impact of acidity and surface-modulated acid dissociation on cloud response to organic aerosol
The contribution of residential wood combustion to the PM2.5 concentrations in the Helsinki metropolitan area
Analysis of atmospheric particle growth based on vapor concentrations measured at the high-altitude GAW station Chacaltaya in the Bolivian Andes
Investigating the sign of stratocumulus adjustments to aerosols in the global storm-resolving model ICON
Expanding the simulation of East Asian super dust storms: physical transport mechanisms impacting the western Pacific
Insights into the sources of ultrafine particle numbers at six European urban sites obtained by investigating COVID–19 lockdowns
Improving 3-day deterministic air pollution forecasts using machine learning algorithms
Opinion: The importance of historical and paleoclimate aerosol radiative effects
Assessing the assimilation of Himawari-8 observations on aerosol forecasts and radiative effects during pollution transport from South Asia to the Tibetan Plateau
Aerosol–meteorology feedback diminishes the transboundary transport of black carbon into the Tibetan Plateau
Associations of interannual variation in summer tropospheric ozone with the Western Pacific Subtropical High in China from 1999 to 2017
Climate intervention using marine cloud brightening (MCB) compared with stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) in the UKESM1 climate model
Comparison of six approaches to predicting droplet activation of surface active aerosol – Part 2: Strong surfactants
A model study on investigating the sensitivity of aerosol forcing on the volatilities of semi-volatile organic compounds
Increased importance of aerosol–cloud interactions for surface PM2.5 pollution relative to aerosol–radiation interactions in China with the anthropogenic emission reductions
The role of temporal scales in extracting dominant meteorological drivers of major airborne pollutants
Biomass-burning smoke's properties and its interactions with marine stratocumulus clouds in WRF-CAM5 and southeastern Atlantic field campaigns
Air pollution trapping in the Dresden Basin from gray-zone scale urban modeling
Alkiviadis Kalisoras, Aristeidis K. Georgoulias, Dimitris Akritidis, Robert J. Allen, Vaishali Naik, Chaincy Kuo, Sophie Szopa, Pierre Nabat, Dirk Olivié, Twan van Noije, Philippe Le Sager, David Neubauer, Naga Oshima, Jane Mulcahy, Larry W. Horowitz, and Prodromos Zanis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7837–7872, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7837-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7837-2024, 2024
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Effective radiative forcing (ERF) is a metric for estimating how human activities and natural agents change the energy flow into and out of the Earth’s climate system. We investigate the anthropogenic aerosol ERF, and we estimate the contribution of individual processes to the total ERF using simulations from Earth system models within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). Our findings highlight that aerosol–cloud interactions drive ERF variability during the last 150 years.
Qianqian Song, Paul Ginoux, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7421–7446, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7421-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7421-2024, 2024
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We implement and simulate the distribution of eight dust minerals in the GFDL AM4.0 model. We found that resolving the eight minerals reduces dust absorption compared to the homogeneous dust used in the standard GFDL AM4.0 model that assumes a globally uniform hematite content of 2.7 % by volume. Resolving dust mineralogy results in significant impacts on radiation, land surface temperature, surface winds, and precipitation over North Africa in summer.
Senyi Kong, Zheng Wang, and Lei Bi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6911–6935, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6911-2024, 2024
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The retrieval of refractive indices of dust aerosols from laboratory optical measurements is commonly done assuming spherical particles. This paper aims to investigate the uncertainties in the shortwave refractive indices and corresponding optical properties by considering non-spherical and inhomogeneous models for dust samples. The study emphasizes the significance of using non-spherical models for simulating dust aerosols.
Wenxuan Hua, Sijia Lou, Xin Huang, Lian Xue, Ke Ding, Zilin Wang, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6787–6807, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6787-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6787-2024, 2024
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In this study, we diagnose uncertainties in carbon monoxide and organic carbon emissions from four inventories for seven major wildfire-prone regions. Uncertainties in vegetation classification methods, fire detection products, and cloud obscuration effects lead to bias in these biomass burning (BB) emission inventories. By comparing simulations with measurements, we provide certain inventory recommendations. Our study has implications for reducing uncertainties in emissions in further studies.
Chandrakala Bharali, Mary Barth, Rajesh Kumar, Sachin D. Ghude, Vinayak Sinha, and Baerbel Sinha
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6635–6662, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6635-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6635-2024, 2024
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This study examines the role of atmospheric aerosols in winter fog over the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India using WRF-Chem. The increase in RH with aerosol–radiation feedback (ARF) is found to be important for fog formation as it promotes the growth of aerosols in the polluted environment. Aqueous-phase chemistry in the fog increases PM2.5 concentration, further affecting ARF. ARF and aqueous-phase chemistry affect the fog intensity and the timing of fog formation by ~1–2 h.
Wenxin Zhao, Yu Zhao, Yu Zheng, Dong Chen, Jinyuan Xin, Kaitao Li, Huizheng Che, Zhengqiang Li, Mingrui Ma, and Yun Hang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6593–6612, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6593-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6593-2024, 2024
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We evaluate the long-term (2000–2020) variabilities of aerosol absorption optical depth, black carbon emissions, and associated health risks in China with an integrated framework that combines multiple observations and modeling techniques. We demonstrate the remarkable emission abatement resulting from the implementation of national pollution controls and show how human activities affected the emissions with a spatiotemporal heterogeneity, thus supporting differentiated policy-making by region.
Peng Xian, Jeffrey S. Reid, Melanie Ades, Angela Benedetti, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo da Silva, Tom F. Eck, Johannes Flemming, Edward J. Hyer, Zak Kipling, Samuel Rémy, Tsuyoshi Thomas Sekiyama, Taichu Tanaka, Keiya Yumimoto, and Jianglong Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6385–6411, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6385-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6385-2024, 2024
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The study compares and evaluates monthly AOD of four reanalyses (RA) and their consensus (i.e., ensemble mean). The basic verification characteristics of these RA versus both AERONET and MODIS retrievals are presented. The study discusses the strength of each RA and identifies regions where divergence and challenges are prominent. The RA consensus usually performs very well on a global scale in terms of how well it matches the observational data, making it a good choice for various applications.
Roger Teoh, Zebediah Engberg, Ulrich Schumann, Christiane Voigt, Marc Shapiro, Susanne Rohs, and Marc E. J. Stettler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6071–6093, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6071-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6071-2024, 2024
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The radiative forcing (RF) due to aviation contrails is comparable to that caused by CO2. We estimate that global contrail net RF in 2019 was 62.1 mW m−2. This is ~1/2 the previous best estimate for 2018. Contrail RF varies regionally due to differences in conditions required for persistent contrails. COVID-19 reduced contrail RF by 54% in 2020 relative to 2019. Globally, 2 % of all flights account for 80 % of the annual contrail energy forcing, suggesting a opportunity to mitigate contrail RF.
Haotian Zu, Biwu Chu, Yiqun Lu, Ling Liu, and Xiuhui Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5823–5835, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5823-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5823-2024, 2024
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The nucleation of iodic acid (HIO3) and iodous acid (HIO2) was proven to be critical in marine areas. However, HIO3–HIO2 nucleation cannot effectively derive the rapid nucleation in some polluted coasts. We find a significant enhancement of dimethylamine (DMA) on the HIO3–HIO2 nucleation in marine and polar regions with abundant DMA sources, which may establish reasonable connections between the HIO3–HIO2 nucleation and the rapid formation of new particles in polluted marine and polar regions.
Junghwa Lee, Patric Seifert, Tempei Hashino, Maximilian Maahn, Fabian Senf, and Oswald Knoth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5737–5756, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5737-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5737-2024, 2024
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Spectral bin model simulations of an idealized supercooled stratiform cloud were performed with the AMPS model for variable CCN and INP concentrations. We performed radar forward simulations with PAMTRA to transfer the simulations into radar observational space. The derived radar reflectivity factors were compared to observational studies of stratiform mixed-phase clouds. These studies report a similar response of the radar reflectivity factor to aerosol perturbations as we found in our study.
Basudev Swain, Marco Vountas, Aishwarya Singh, Nidhi L. Anchan, Adrien Deroubaix, Luca Lelli, Yanick Ziegler, Sachin S. Gunthe, Hartmut Bösch, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5671–5693, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5671-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5671-2024, 2024
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Arctic amplification (AA) accelerates the warming of the central Arctic cryosphere and affects aerosol dynamics. Limited observations hinder a comprehensive analysis. This study uses AEROSNOW aerosol optical density (AOD) data and GEOS-Chem simulations to assess AOD variability. Discrepancies highlight the need for improved observational integration into models to refine our understanding of aerosol effects on cloud microphysics, ice nucleation, and radiative forcing under evolving AA.
Vincenzo Obiso, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Jan P. Perlwitz, Gregory L. Schuster, Susanne E. Bauer, Claudia Di Biagio, Paola Formenti, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Ron L. Miller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5337–5367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5337-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5337-2024, 2024
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We calculate the dust direct radiative effect (DRE) in an Earth system model accounting for regionally varying soil mineralogy through a new observationally constrained method. Linking dust absorption at solar wavelengths to the varying amount of specific minerals (i.e., iron oxides) improves the modeled range of dust single scattering albedo compared to observations and increases the global cooling by dust. Our results may contribute to improved estimates of the dust DRE and its climate impact.
Charlotte M. Beall, Po-Lun Ma, Matthew W. Christensen, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Adam Varble, Kentaroh Suzuki, and Takuro Michibata
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5287–5302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5287-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5287-2024, 2024
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Single-layer warm liquid clouds cover nearly one-third of the Earth's surface, and uncertainties regarding the impact of aerosols on their radiative properties pose a significant challenge to climate prediction. Here, we demonstrate how satellite observations can be used to constrain Earth system model estimates of the radiative forcing from the interactions of aerosols with clouds due to warm rain processes.
Xiaoli Wei, Qian Cui, Leiming Ma, Feng Zhang, Wenwen Li, and Peng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5025–5045, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5025-2024, 2024
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A new aerosol-type classification algorithm has been proposed. It includes an optical database built by Mie scattering and a complex refractive index working as a baseline to identify different aerosol types. The new algorithm shows high accuracy and efficiency. Hence, a global map of aerosol types was generated to characterize aerosol types across the five continents. It will help improve the accuracy of aerosol inversion and determine the sources of aerosol pollution.
Zhiqiang Zhang, Ying Li, Haiyan Ran, Junling An, Yu Qu, Wei Zhou, Weiqi Xu, Weiwei Hu, Hongbin Xie, Zifa Wang, Yele Sun, and Manabu Shiraiwa
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4809–4826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4809-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4809-2024, 2024
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Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) can exist in liquid, semi-solid, or amorphous solid states, which are rarely accounted for in current chemical transport models. We predict the phase state of SOA particles over China and find that in northwestern China SOA particles are mostly highly viscous or glassy solid. Our results indicate that the particle phase state should be considered in SOA formation in chemical transport models for more accurate prediction of SOA mass concentrations.
Alejandro Baró Pérez, Michael S. Diamond, Frida A.-M. Bender, Abhay Devasthale, Matthias Schwarz, Julien Savre, Juha Tonttila, Harri Kokkola, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, 2024
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We use a numerical model to study interactions between humid light-absorbing aerosol plumes, clouds, and radiation over the southeast Atlantic. We find that the warming produced by the aerosols reduces cloud cover, especially in highly polluted situations. Aerosol impacts on drizzle play a minor role. However, aerosol effects on cloud reflectivity and moisture-induced changes in cloud cover dominate the climatic response and lead to an overall cooling by the biomass burning plumes.
Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, Huisheng Bian, and Santiago Gassó
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4421–4449, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4421-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4421-2024, 2024
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The smoke aerosols emitted from vegetation burning can alter the regional energy budget via multiple pathways. We utilized detailed observations from the NASA ORACLES airborne campaign based in Namibia during September 2016 to improve the representation of smoke aerosol properties and lifetimes in our GEOS Earth system model. The improved model simulations are for the first time able to capture the observed changes in the smoke absorption during long-range plume transport.
Emilio Cuevas-Agulló, David Barriopedro, Rosa Delia García, Silvia Alonso-Pérez, Juan Jesús González-Alemán, Ernest Werner, David Suárez, Juan José Bustos, Gerardo García-Castrillo, Omaira García, África Barreto, and Sara Basart
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4083–4104, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4083-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4083-2024, 2024
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During February–March (FM) 2020–2022, unusually intense dust storms from northern Africa hit the western Euro-Mediterranean (WEM). Using dust products from satellites and atmospheric reanalysis for 2003–2022, results show that cut-off lows and European blocking are key drivers of FM dust intrusions over the WEM. A higher frequency of cut-off lows associated with subtropical ridges is observed in the late 2020–2022 period.
Yahui Che, Bofu Yu, and Katherine Bracco
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4105–4128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4105-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4105-2024, 2024
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Dust events occur more frequently during the Austral spring and summer in dust regions, including central Australia, the southwest of Western Australia, and the northern and southern regions of eastern Australia using remote sensing and reanalysis datasets. High-concentration dust is distributed around central Australia and in the downwind northern and southern Australia. Typically, around 50 % of the dust lifted settles on Australian land, with the remaining half being deposited in the ocean.
Jonathan Elsey, Nicolas Bellouin, and Claire Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4065–4081, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4065-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4065-2024, 2024
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Aerosols influence the Earth's energy balance. The uncertainty in this radiative forcing is large depending partly on uncertainty in measurements of aerosol optical properties. We have developed a freely available new framework of millions of radiative transfer simulations spanning aerosol uncertainty and assess the impact on radiative forcing uncertainty. We find that reducing these uncertainties would reduce radiative forcing uncertainty, but non-aerosol uncertainties must also be considered.
Jing Li, Nan Wu, Biwu Chu, An Ning, and Xiuhui Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3989–4000, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3989-2024, 2024
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Iodic acid (HIO3) nucleates with iodous acid (HIO2) efficiently in marine areas; however, whether methanesulfonic acid (MSA) can synergistically participate in the HIO3–HIO2-based nucleation is unclear. We provide molecular-level evidence that MSA can efficiently promote the formation of HIO3–HIO2-based clusters using a theoretical approach. The proposed MSA-enhanced iodine nucleation mechanism may help us to deeply understand marine new particle formation events with bursts of iodine particles.
Hao Wang, Xiaohong Liu, Chenglai Wu, and Guangxing Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3309–3328, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3309-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3309-2024, 2024
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We quantified different global- and regional-scale drivers of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emission trends over the past 20 years. The results show that global greening trends significantly boost BVOC emissions and deforestation reduces BVOC emissions in South America and Southeast Asia. Elevated temperature in Europe and increased soil moisture in East and South Asia enhance BVOC emissions. The results deepen our understanding of long-term BVOC emission trends in hotspots.
Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, and Mattia Righi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3217–3240, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3217-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3217-2024, 2024
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Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) have important influences on cirrus clouds and the climate system; however, the understanding of their global impacts is still uncertain. We perform numerical simulations with a global aerosol–climate model to analyse INP-induced cirrus changes and the resulting climate impacts. We evaluate various sources of uncertainties, e.g. the ice-nucleating ability of INPs and the role of model dynamics, and provide a new estimate for the global INP–cirrus effect.
Jiawei Li, Zhiwei Han, Pingqing Fu, Xiaohong Yao, and Mingjie Liang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3129–3161, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3129-2024, 2024
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Organic aerosols of marine origin are important for aerosol climatic effects but are poorly understood. For the first time, an online coupled regional chemistry–climate model is applied to explore the characteristics of emission, distribution, and direct and indirect radiative effects of marine organic aerosols over the western Pacific, which reveals an important role of marine organic aerosols in perturbing cloud and radiation and promotes understanding of global aerosol climatic impact.
Yawen Liu, Yun Qian, Philip J. Rasch, Kai Zhang, Lai-yung Ruby Leung, Yuhang Wang, Minghuai Wang, Hailong Wang, Xin Huang, and Xiu-Qun Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3115–3128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024, 2024
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Fire management has long been a challenge. Here we report that spring-peak fire activity over southern Mexico and Central America (SMCA) has a distinct quasi-biennial signal by measuring multiple fire metrics. This signal is initially driven by quasi-biennial variability in precipitation and is further amplified by positive feedback of fire–precipitation interaction at short timescales. This work highlights the importance of fire–climate interactions in shaping fires on an interannual scale.
Xu Feng, Loretta J. Mickley, Michelle L. Bell, Tianjia Liu, Jenny A. Fisher, and Maria Val Martin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2985–3007, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2985-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2985-2024, 2024
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During severe wildfire seasons, smoke can have a significant impact on air quality in Australia. Our study demonstrates that characterization of the smoke plume injection fractions greatly affects estimates of surface smoke PM2.5. Using the plume behavior predicted by the machine learning method leads to the best model agreement with observed surface PM2.5 in key cities across Australia, with smoke PM2.5 accounting for 5 %–52 % of total PM2.5 on average during fire seasons from 2009 to 2020.
Shiyi Lai, Ximeng Qi, Xin Huang, Sijia Lou, Xuguang Chi, Liangduo Chen, Chong Liu, Yuliang Liu, Chao Yan, Mengmeng Li, Tengyu Liu, Wei Nie, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2535–2553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2535-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2535-2024, 2024
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By combining in situ measurements and chemical transport modeling, this study investigates new particle formation (NPF) on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. We found that the NPF was driven by the presence of biogenic gases and the transport of anthropogenic precursors. The NPF was vertically heterogeneous and shaped by the vertical mixing. This study highlights the importance of anthropogenic–biogenic interactions and meteorological dynamics in NPF in this climate-sensitive region.
Adriana Rocha-Lima, Peter R. Colarco, Anton S. Darmenov, Edward P. Nowottnick, Arlindo M. da Silva, and Luke D. Oman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2443–2464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024, 2024
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Observations show an increasing aerosol optical depth trend in the Middle East between 2003–2012. We evaluate the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model's ability to capture these trends and examine the meteorological and surface parameters driving dust emissions. Our results highlight the importance of data assimilation for long-term trends of atmospheric aerosols and support the hypothesis that vegetation cover loss may have contributed to increasing dust emissions in the period.
Danny M. Leung, Jasper F. Kok, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, David M. Lawrence, Simone Tilmes, Erik Kluzek, Martina Klose, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2287–2318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2287-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2287-2024, 2024
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This study uses a premier Earth system model to evaluate a new desert dust emission scheme proposed in our companion paper. We show that our scheme accounts for more dust emission physics, hence matching better against observations than other existing dust emission schemes do. Our scheme's dust emissions also couple tightly with meteorology, hence likely improving the modeled dust sensitivity to climate change. We believe this work is vital for improving dust representation in climate models.
Ruth A. R. Digby, Nathan P. Gillett, Adam H. Monahan, Knut von Salzen, Antonis Gkikas, Qianqian Song, and Zhibo Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2077–2097, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2077-2024, 2024
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The COVID-19 lockdowns reduced aerosol emissions. We ask whether these reductions affected regional aerosol optical depth (AOD) and compare the observed changes to predictions from Earth system models. Only India has an observed AOD reduction outside of typical variability. Models overestimate the response in some regions, but when key biases have been addressed, the agreement is improved. Our results suggest that current models can realistically predict the effects of future emission changes.
Amy H. Peace, Ying Chen, George Jordan, Daniel G. Partridge, Florent Malavelle, Eliza Duncan, and Jim M. Haywood
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-360, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-360, 2024
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Natural aerosols from volcanic eruptions can help us understand how anthropogenic aerosols modify climate. We use observations and model simulations of the 2014–15 Holuhraun eruption plume to examine aerosol-cloud interactions in September 2014. We find a shift to clouds with smaller, more numerous cloud droplets in the first two weeks of the eruption. In the third week, the background meteorology and previous conditions experienced by airmasses modulate the aerosol perturbation to clouds.
Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Eric C. Apel, Donald R. Blake, Karl Froyd, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Jose Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Michael Lawler, Mingxu Liu, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Benjamin A. Nault, Joyce E. Penner, Andrew W. Rollins, Gregory Schill, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Hailong Wang, Lu Xu, Kai Zhang, and Jialei Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1717–1741, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, 2024
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This work studies sulfur in the remote troposphere at global and seasonal scales using aircraft measurements and multi-model simulations. The goal is to understand the sulfur cycle over remote oceans, spread of model simulations, and observation–model discrepancies. Such an understanding and comparison with real observations are crucial to narrow down the uncertainties in model sulfur simulations and improve understanding of the sulfur cycle in atmospheric air quality, climate, and ecosystems.
Gargi Sengupta, Minjie Zheng, and Nønne L. Prisle
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1467–1487, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1467-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1467-2024, 2024
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The effect of organic acid aerosol on sulfur chemistry and cloud properties was investigated in an atmospheric model. Organic acid dissociation was considered using both bulk and surface-related properties. We found that organic acid dissociation leads to increased hydrogen ion concentrations and sulfate aerosol mass in aqueous aerosols, increasing cloud formation. This could be important in large-scale climate models as many organic aerosol components are both acidic and surface-active.
Leena Kangas, Jaakko Kukkonen, Mari Kauhaniemi, Kari Riikonen, Mikhail Sofiev, Anu Kousa, Jarkko V. Niemi, and Ari Karppinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1489–1507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1489-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1489-2024, 2024
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Residential wood combustion is a major source of fine particulate matter. This study has evaluated the contribution of residential wood combustion to fine particle concentrations and its year-to-year and seasonal variation in te Helsinki metropolitan area. The average concentrations attributed to wood combustion in winter were up to 10- or 15-fold compared to summer. Wood combustion caused 12 % to 14 % of annual fine particle concentrations. In winter, the contribution ranged from 16 % to 21 %.
Arto Heitto, Cheng Wu, Diego Aliaga, Luis Blacutt, Xuemeng Chen, Yvette Gramlich, Liine Heikkinen, Wei Huang, Radovan Krejci, Paolo Laj, Isabel Moreno, Karine Sellegri, Fernando Velarde, Kay Weinhold, Alfred Wiedensohler, Qiaozhi Zha, Federico Bianchi, Marcos Andrade, Kari E. J. Lehtinen, Claudia Mohr, and Taina Yli-Juuti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1315–1328, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1315-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1315-2024, 2024
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Particle growth at the Chacaltaya station in Bolivia was simulated based on measured vapor concentrations and ambient conditions. Major contributors to the simulated growth were low-volatility organic compounds (LVOCs). Also, sulfuric acid had major role when volcanic activity was occurring in the area. This study provides insight on nanoparticle growth at this high-altitude Southern Hemispheric site and hence contributes to building knowledge of early growth of atmospheric particles.
Emilie Fons, Ann Kristin Naumann, David Neubauer, Theresa Lang, and Ulrike Lohmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-195, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-195, 2024
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Aerosols can modify the liquid water path (LWP) of stratocumulus (Sc), and thus their radiative effect. This study compares model outputs and satellite data that disagree on the sign of Sc LWP adjustments: positive and negative, respectively. We use causality to diagnose this discrepancy and find that strong precipitation and cloud deepening under a weak inversion contribute to positive LWP adjustments to aerosols in the model, while entrainment enhancement prevails in observations.
Steven Soon-Kai Kong, Saginela Ravindra Babu, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Stephen M. Griffith, Jackson Hian-Wui Chang, Ming-Tung Chuang, Guey-Rong Sheu, and Neng-Huei Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1041–1058, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1041-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1041-2024, 2024
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In this study, we combined ground observations from 7-SEAS Dongsha Experiment, MERRA-2 reanalysis, and MODIS satellite images for evaluation and improvement of the CMAQ dust model for cases of East Asian Dust reaching the Taiwan region, including Dongsha in the western Pacific. We proposed a better CMAQ dust treatment over East Asia and for the first time revealed the impact of typhoons on dust transport.
Alex Rowell, James Brean, David C. S. Beddows, Zongbo Shi, Tuukka Petäjä, Máté Vörösmarty, Imre Salma, Jarkko V. Niemi, Hanna E. Manninen, Dominik van Pinxteren, Roy M. Harrison, Thomas Tuch, and Kay Weinhold
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3053, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3053, 2024
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Different sources of airborne particles in the atmospheres of four European cities were distinguished by recognising their particle size distributions using a statistical procedure, Positive Matrix Factorization. The various sources responded differently to the changes in emissions associated with Covid lockdowns, and the reasons are investigated. While traffic emissions generally decreased, particles formed from reactions of atmospheric gases decreased in some cities, but increased in others.
Zhiguo Zhang, Christer Johansson, Magnuz Engardt, Massimo Stafoggia, and Xiaoliang Ma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 807–851, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-807-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-807-2024, 2024
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Up-to-date information on present and near-future air quality help people avoid exposure to high levels of air pollution. We apply different machine learning models to significantly improve traditional forecasts of PM10, NOx, and O3 in Stockholm, Sweden. It is shown that forecasts of all air pollutants are improved by the input of lagged measurements and taking calendar information into account. The final modelled errors are substantially smaller than uncertainties in the measurements.
Natalie M. Mahowald, Longlei Li, Samuel Albani, Douglas S. Hamilton, and Jasper F. Kok
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 533–551, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-533-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-533-2024, 2024
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Estimating past aerosol radiative effects and their uncertainties is an important topic in climate science. Aerosol radiative effects propagate into large uncertainties in estimates of how present and future climate evolves with changing greenhouse gas emissions. A deeper understanding of how aerosols interacted with the atmospheric energy budget under past climates is hindered in part by a lack of relevant paleo-observations and in part because less attention has been paid to the problem.
Min Zhao, Tie Dai, Daisuke Goto, Hao Wang, and Guangyu Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 235–258, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-235-2024, 2024
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During a springtime pollution input from South Asia to the Tibetan Plateau, we combined atmospheric chemistry modeling and data assimilation methods to assimilate and forecast aerosols from South Asia and the Tibetan Plateau. Assimilation of observations over a whole time window leads to a more reasonable distribution of daily variations in the aerosol forecast field. We also find that aerosol assimilation can improve the surface solar energy forecast in the Tibetan Plateau region.
Yuling Hu, Haipeng Yu, Shichang Kang, Junhua Yang, Mukesh Rai, Xiufeng Yin, Xintong Chen, and Pengfei Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 85–107, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-85-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-85-2024, 2024
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The Tibetan Plateau (TP) saw a record-breaking aerosol pollution event from April 20 to May 10, 2016. We studied the impact of aerosol–meteorology feedback on the transboundary transport flux of black carbon (BC) during this severe pollution event. It was found that the aerosol–meteorology feedback decreases the transboundary transport flux of BC from the central and western Himalayas towards the TP. This study is of great significance for the protection of the ecological environment of the TP.
Xiaodong Zhang, Ruiyu Zhugu, Xiaohu Jian, Xinrui Liu, Kaijie Chen, Shu Tao, Junfeng Liu, Hong Gao, Tao Huang, and Jianmin Ma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15629–15642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15629-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15629-2023, 2023
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WRF-Chem modeling was conducted to assess impacts of Western Pacific Subtropical High Pressure (WPSH) on interannual fluctuations of O3 pollution in China. We find that, while precursor emissions dominated the long-term trend and magnitude of O3 from 1999 to 2017, WPSH determined interannual variation of summer O3. The response of O3 pollution to WPSH in major urban clusters depended on the proximity of these urban areas to WPSH. The results could help long-term O3 pollution mitigation planning.
Jim M. Haywood, Andy Jones, Anthony C. Jones, Paul Halloran, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15305–15324, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15305-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15305-2023, 2023
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The difficulties in ameliorating global warming and the associated climate change via conventional mitigation are well documented, with all climate model scenarios exceeding 1.5 °C above the preindustrial level in the near future. There is therefore a growing interest in geoengineering to reflect a greater proportion of sunlight back to space and offset some of the global warming. We use a state-of-the-art Earth-system model to investigate two of the most prominent geoengineering strategies.
Sampo Vepsäläinen, Silvia M. Calderón, and Nønne L. Prisle
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15149–15164, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15149-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15149-2023, 2023
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Atmospheric aerosols act as seeds for cloud formation. Many aerosols contain surface active material that accumulates at the surface of growing droplets. This can affect cloud droplet activation, but the broad significance of the effect and the best way to model it are still debated. We compare predictions of six models to surface activity of strongly surface active aerosol and find significant differences between the models, especially with large fractions of surfactant in the dry particles.
Muhammed Irfan, Thomas Kühn, Taina Yli-Juuti, Anton Laakso, Eemeli Holopainen, Douglas R. Worsnop, Annele Virtanen, and Harri Kokkola
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2768, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2768, 2023
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The study underscores the influence of semi-volatile organic compounds on the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Our findings demonstrate their considerable impact on climate, emphasizing the necessity to improve their representation in large-scale climate models. This research provides a nuanced perspective on the challenges in modelling, emphasizing the significance of semi-volatile compounds and their volatility distribution in predicting global climate patterns.
Da Gao, Bin Zhao, Shuxiao Wang, Yuan Wang, Brian Gaudet, Yun Zhu, Xiaochun Wang, Jiewen Shen, Shengyue Li, Yicong He, Dejia Yin, and Zhaoxin Dong
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14359–14373, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14359-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14359-2023, 2023
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Surface PM2.5 concentrations can be enhanced by aerosol–radiation interactions (ARIs) and aerosol–cloud interactions (ACIs). In this study, we found PM2.5 enhancement induced by ACIs shows a significantly smaller decrease ratio than that induced by ARIs in China with anthropogenic emission reduction from 2013 to 2021, making ACIs more important for enhancing PM2.5 concentrations. ACI-induced PM2.5 enhancement needs to be emphatically considered to meet the national PM2.5 air quality standard.
Miaoqing Xu, Jing Yang, Manchun Li, Xiao Chen, Qiancheng Lv, Qi Yao, Bingbo Gao, and Ziyue Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14065–14076, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14065-2023, 2023
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Although the temporal-scale effects on PM2.5–meteorology associations have been discussed, no quantitative evidence has proved this before. Based on rare 3 h meteorology data, we revealed that the dominant meteorological factor for PM2.5 concentrations across China extracted at the 3 h and 24 h scales presented large variations. This research suggests that data sources of different temporal scales should be comprehensively considered for better attribution and prevention of airborne pollution.
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
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To better understand smoke properties and its interactions with clouds, we compare the WRF-CAM5 model with observations from ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC field campaigns in the southeastern Atlantic in August 2017. The model transports and mixes smoke well but does not fully capture some important processes. These include smoke chemical and physical aging over 4–12 days, smoke removal by rain, sulfate particle formation, aerosol activation into cloud droplets, and boundary layer turbulence.
Michael Weger and Bernd Heinold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13769–13790, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13769-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13769-2023, 2023
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This study investigates the effects of complex terrain on air pollution trapping using a numerical model which simulates the dispersion of emissions under real meteorological conditions. The additionally simulated aerosol age allows us to distinguish areas that accumulate aerosol over time from areas that are more influenced by fresh emissions. The Dresden Basin, a widened section of the Elbe Valley in eastern Germany, is selected as the target area in a case study to demonstrate the concept.
Cited articles
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Ashpole, I. and Washington, R.: Intraseasonal variability and atmospheric controls on daily dust occurrence frequency over the central and western Sahara during the boreal summer, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 12915–12926, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020267, 2013.
Banks, J. R., Brindley, H. E., Stenchikov, G., and Schepanski, K.: Satellite retrievals of dust aerosol over the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (2005–2015), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3987–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3987-2017, 2017.
Bergametti, G., Rajot, J. L., Pierre, C., Bouet, C., and Marticorena, B.: How long does precipitation inhibit wind erosion in the Sahel?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 6643–6649, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069324, 2016.
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Bou Karam, D., Flamant, C., Knippertz, P., Reitebuch, O., Pelon, J., Chong, M., and Dabas, A.: Dust emissions over the Sahel associated with the West African monsoon intertropical discontinuity region: A representative case-study, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 134, 621–634, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.244, 2008.
Bou Karam, D., Flamant, C., Tulet, P., Chaboureau, J.-P., Dabas, A., and Todd, M. C.: Estimate of Sahelian dust emissions in the intertropical discontinuity region of the West African Monsoon, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D13106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD011444, 2009.
Bou Karam, D., Flamant, C., Cuesta, J., Pelon, J., and Williams, E.: Dust emission and transport associated with a Saharan depression: February 2007 case, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D00H27, https://doi.org/10.1019/2009JD012390, 2010.
Brindley, H. E., Knippertz, P., Ryder, C., and Ashpole, I.: A critical evaluation of the ability of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) thermal infrared red-green-blue rendering to identify dust events: Theoretical analysis, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D07201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD017326, 2012.
Carslaw, K. S., Boucher, O., Spracklen, D. V., Mann, G. W., Rae, J. G. L., Woodward, S., and Kulmala, M.: A review of natural aerosol interactions and feedbacks within the Earth system, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 1701–1737, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-1701-2010, 2010.
Chaboureau, J.-P., Flamant, C., Dauhut, T., Kocha, C., Lafore, J.-P., Lavaysse, C., Marnas, F., Mokhtari, M., Pelon, J., Reinares Martínez, I., Schepanski, K., and Tulet, P.: Fennec dust forecast intercomparison over the Sahara in June 2011, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6977–6995, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6977-2016, 2016.
Chauvin, F., Roehrig, R., and Lafore, J.-P.: Intraseasonal Variability of the 2544–2561, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3093.1, 2010.
Crouvi, O., Schepanski, K., Amit, R., Gillespie, A. R., and Enzel, Y.: Multiple dust sources in the Sahara desert: The importance of sand dunes, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L13401, https://doi.org/10.1029/2912GL052145, 2012.
Fiedler, S., Schepanski, K., Heinold, B., Knippertz, P., and Tegen, I.: Climatology of nocturnal low-level jets over North Africa and implications for modelling mineral dust emission, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 6100–6121, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50394, 2013.
Fiedler, S., Schepanski, K., Knippertz, P., Heinold, B., and Tegen, I.: How important are atmospheric depressions and mobile cyclones for emitting mineral dust aerosol in North Africa?, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8983–9000, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8983-2014, 2014.
Formenti, P., Caquineau, S., Desboeufs, K., Klaver, A., Chevaillier, S., Journet, E., and Rajot, J. L.: Mapping the physico-chemical properties of mineral dust in western Africa: mineralogical composition, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 10663–10686, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10663-2014, 2014.
Ginoux, P., Prospero, J. M., Gill, T. E., Hsu, N. C., and Zhao, M.: Global-scale attribution of anthropogenic and natural dust sources and their emission rates based on MODIS Deep Blue aerosol products, Rev. Geophys., 50, RG3005, https://doi.org/10.10129/2012RG000388, 2012.
Grams, C. M., Jones, S. C., Marsham, J. H., Parker, D. J., Haywood, J. M., and Heuveline, V.: The Atlantic Inflow to the Saharan heat low: Observations and Modelling, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 136, 125–140, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.429, 2010.
Groß, S., Freudenthaler, V., Schepanski, K., Toledano, C., Schäfler, A., Ansmann, A., and Weinzierl, B.: Optical properties of long-range transported Saharan dust over Barbados as measured by dual-wavelength depolarization Raman lidar measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11067–11080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, 2015.
Heinold, B., Tegen, I., Schepanski, K., Tesche, M., Esselborn, M., Freudenthaler, V., Gross, S., Kandler, K., Knippertz, P., Müller, D., Schladitz, A., Toledano, C., Weinzierl, B., Ansmann, A., Althausen, D., Müller, T., Petzold, A., and Wiedensohler, A.: Regional modelling of Saharan dust and biomass-burning smoke, Part 1: Model description and evaluation, Tellus, 63B, 781–799, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2011.00570.x, 2011.
Heinold, B., Knippertz, P., Marsham, J. H., Fiedler, S., Dixon, N. S., Schepanski, K., Laurent, B., and Tegen, I.: The role of deep convection and nocturnal low-level jets for dust emission in summertime West Africa: Estimates from convection-permitting simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 4385-4400, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50402, 2013.
Heinold, B., Schepanski, K., Gieseler, D., and Tegen, I.: Mixing and Deposition Processes during Transatlantic Transport of Saharan Dust, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., in preparation, 2017.
Heintzenberg, J.: The SAMUM-1 experiment over Southern Morocco: overview and introduction, Tellus, 61B, 2–11, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2008.00403.x2009
Holben, B. N., Eck, T. F., Slutsker, I., Tanré, D., Buis, J. P., Setzer, A., Vermote, E., Reagan, J. A., Kaufman, Y. J., Nakajima, T., Lavenu, F., Jankowiak, I., and Smirnov, A.: AERONET – A federated instrument network and data archive for aerosol characterization, Remote Sens. Environ., 66, 1–16, 10.1016/S0034-4257(98)00031-5, 1998.
Huneeus, N., Schulz, M., Balkanski, Y., Griesfeller, J., Prospero, J., Kinne, S., Bauer, S., Boucher, O., Chin, M., Dentener, F., Diehl, T., Easter, R., Fillmore, D., Ghan, S., Ginoux, P., Grini, A., Horowitz, L., Koch, D., Krol, M. C., Landing, W., Liu, X., Mahowald, N., Miller, R., Morcrette, J.-J., Myhre, G., Penner, J., Perlwitz, J., Stier, P., Takemura, T., and Zender, C. S.: Global dust model intercomparison in AeroCom phase I, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 7781–7816, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-7781-2011, 2011.
Jakobson, H. A., Jonson, J. E., and Berge, E.: The multi-layer Eulerian model: model description and evaluation of transboundary fluxes of sulphur and nitrogen species for one year. EMEP/MSC-W, Note 2/97, The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway, 1997.
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Knippertz, P., Ansmann, A., Althausen, D., Müller, D., Tesche, M., Bierwirth, E., Dinter, T., Müller, T., von Hoyningen-Huene, W., Schepanski, K., Wendisch, M., Heinold, B., Kandler, K., Petzold, A., Schütz, L., and Tegen, I.: Dust mobilization and transport in the northern Sahara during SAMUM 2006 - A meteorological overview, Tellus B, 61, 1231, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2008.00380.x, 2009.
Klose, M. and Shao, Y.: Large-eddy simulation of turbulent dust emission, Aeolian Res., 8, 49–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.10.010, 2013.
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Kok, J. F., Parteli, E. J. R., Michaels, T. I., and Bou Karam, D.: The physics of wind-blown sand and dust, Rep. Prog. Phys., 75, 106901, https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/75/10/106901, 2012.
Lavaysse, C., Flamant, C., Janicot, S., Parker, D. J., Lafore, J.-P., Sultan, B., and Pelon, J.: Seasonal evolution of the West African heat low: a climatological perspective, Clim. Dynam., 33, 313–330, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-009-0553-4, 2009.
Lavaysse, C., Flamant, C., and Janicot, S.: Regional-scale convection patterns during strong and weak phases of the Saharan heat low, Atmos. Sci. Lett., 11, 255–264, https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.284, 2010.
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McConnell, C. L., Highwood, E. J., Coe, H., Formenti, P., Anderson, A., Osborne, S., Nava, S., Desboeufs, K., Chen, G., and Harrison, M. A. J.: Seasonal variations of the physical and optical characteristics of Saharan dust: Results from the Dust Outflow and Deposition to the Ocean (DODO) experiment, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D14, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009606, 2008.
Menut, L., Forêt, G., and Bergametti, G.: Sensitivity of mineral dust concentrations on the model size distribution accuracy, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10210, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007766, 2007.
Morman, S. A. and Plumlee, G. S.: The role of airborne mineral dusts in human disease, Aeolian Res., 9, 203–212, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.12.001, 2013.
Okin, G. S., Mahowald, N., Chadwick, O. A., and Artaxo, P. P.: Impact of desert dust on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems, Global Biogeochem. Cycle, 18, GB2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GB002145, 2004.
O'Neill, N. T., Eck, T. F., Smirnov, A., Holben, B. N., and Thulasiraman, S.: Spectral discrimination of coarse and fine mode optical depth, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4559, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002975, 2003.
Parker, D. J., Burton, R., Diongue-Niang, A., Ellis, R., Felton, M., Taylor, C., Thorncroft, C., Bessemoulin, P., and Tompkins, A.: The diurnal cycle of the West African monsoon circulation, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 131, 2839–2860, https://doi.org/10.1256/qj.04.52, 2005a.
Parker, D. J., Thorncroft, C. D., Burton, R., and Diongue-Niang, A.: Analysis of the African easterly jet using aircraft observations from the JET2000 experiment, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 131, 1461–1482, 2005b.
Prigent, C., Jiménez, C., and Catherinot, J.: Comparison of satellite microwave backscattering (ASCAT) and visible/near-infrared reflectances (PARASOL) for the estimation of aeolian aerodynamic roughness length in arid and semi-arid regions, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 2703–2712, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-2703-2012, 2012.
Reinfried, F., Tegen, I., Heinold, B., Hellmuth, O., Schepanski, K., Cubasch, U., Huebener, H., and Knippertz, P.: Simulations of convectively-driven density currents in the Atlas region using a regional model: Impacts on dust emission and sensitivity to horizontal resolution and convection schemes, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D08127, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010844, 2009.
Ridley, D. A., Heald, C. L., and Prospero, J. M.: What controls the recent changes in African mineral dust aerosol across the Atlantic?, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5735–5747, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5735-2014, 2014.
Rodríguez, S., Cuevas, E., Prospero, J. M., Alastuey, A., Querol, X., López-Solano, J., García, M. I., and Alonso-Pérez, S.: Modulation of Saharan dust export by the North African dipole, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7471–7486, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7471-2015, 2015.
Roehrig, R., Chauvin, F., and Lafore, J.-P.: 10-25-Day Intraseasonal Variability of Convection over the Sahel: A Role of the Saharan Heat Low and Midlatitudes, J. Climate, 24, 5863–5878, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JCLI3960.1, 2011.
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Short summary
This study illustrates the complexity of the interaction among the three major circulation regimes stimulating the North African dust outflow: harmattan, Saharan heat low, and monsoon circulation. We analyse fields from model simulations and satellite observations in concert in order to link atmospheric circulation and dust source activation as well as to characterize their impact on the variability of the dust outflow towards the Atlantic.
This study illustrates the complexity of the interaction among the three major circulation...
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