Articles | Volume 25, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10049-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10049-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Sep 2025
Research article |
| 09 Sep 2025
| 09 Sep 2025
Observationally constrained analysis on the distribution of fine- and coarse-mode nitrate in global models
Atmospheric, Climate, & Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Atmospheric, Climate, & Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Zheng Lu
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
Xiaohong Liu
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
Huisheng Bian
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
David D. Cohen
Centre for Accelerator Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia
Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA
Mian Chin
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Didier A. Hauglustaine
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), UMR8212, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Vlassis A. Karydis
Institute of Energy and Climate Research: Troposphere (ICE-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
Marianne T. Lund
CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo, Norway
Gunnar Myhre
CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo, Norway
Andrea Pozzer
Department of Atmospheric Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Michael Schulz
Climate and Environment Department, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway
Ragnhild B. Skeie
CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo, Norway
Alexandra P. Tsimpidi
Institute of Energy and Climate Research: Troposphere (ICE-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
Svetlana G. Tsyro
Climate and Environment Department, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway
Shaocheng Xie
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
Model code and software
E3SM maint-2.0 branch with MOSAIC aerosol chemistry module M. Wu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17009904
Short summary
A key challenge in simulating the life cycle of nitrate aerosol in global models is accurately representing the mass size distribution of nitrate aerosol, which lacks sufficient observational constraints. We found that most global models underestimate the mass fraction of fine-mode nitrate at the surface in all regions. Our study highlights the importance of gas–aerosol partitioning parameterization and the simulation of dust and sea salt in correctly simulating the mass size distribution of nitrate.
A key challenge in simulating the life cycle of nitrate aerosol in global models is accurately...
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