Articles | Volume 25, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14435-2025
© 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-25-14435-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
03 Nov 2025
Research article |
| 03 Nov 2025
| 03 Nov 2025
The historical climate trend resulted in changed vertical transport patterns in climate model simulations
Adrienne Jeske
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Holger Tost
Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Adrienne Jeske, J. Moritz Menken, Gustavo C. Cuchiara, Hendrik Ranocha, Mary C. Barth, and Holger Tost
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4821, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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The most vigorous vertical velocities in the atmosphere are found in thunderstorms. Within these cumulonimbus clouds, trace gases can be quickly redistributed vertically and also interact with cloud hydrometeors. We present the new model Mainz Convective Transport and Scavenging (MCTS), which includes both the redistribution of trace gases due to transport and the processing by cloud hydrometeors. The new model is compared against aircraft observations and the global model EMAC.
Adrienne Jeske, J. Moritz Menken, Gustavo C. Cuchiara, Hendrik Ranocha, Mary C. Barth, and Holger Tost
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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The most vigorous vertical velocities in the atmosphere are found in thunderstorms. Within these cumulonimbus clouds, trace gases can be quickly redistributed vertically and also interact with cloud hydrometeors. We present the new model Mainz Convective Transport and Scavenging (MCTS), which includes both the redistribution of trace gases due to transport and the processing by cloud hydrometeors. The new model is compared against aircraft observations and the global model EMAC.
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In this study we show mixing of ice particles across the extratropical tropopause via turbulence in the jet shear zone based on in situ measurements from the TPEx campaign over the North Sea, combined with Lagrangian model analysis. Trace gas correlations and subsaturated ice particles constrain the timing and mechanism, while backward trajectories indicate suitable turbulent conditions beforehand. This process possibly impacts the water vapour budget of the extratropical lowermost stratosphere.
Linda Smoydzin, Vera Bense, Heiko Bozem, Philipp Joppe, Daniel Kunkel, Hans-Christoph Lachnitt, Holger Tost, Andreas Zahn, Helmut Ziereis, Martin Riese, and Peter Hoor
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During a research flight in early October elevated upper tropospheric mixing ratios of CO, NO, NOy and O3 were observed over a distance of more than 1000 km east of the Brasilian coast. Ozone mixing ratios are 20–40 ppbv higher than during a flight in early September. By combining aircraft observations with model simulations we find that ozone production from biomass burning over Amazonia caused predominantly the ozone enhancements which have a local effect on the radiative forcing of 50 mW m−2.
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Marine microbes release sulfur gases that form tiny particles able to seed clouds. Using a global chemistry-climate model, we compare four schemes for how these gases oxidise and test them against ship and ground measurements. We find that methanesulfonic acid can drive new particle formation as strongly as sulfuric acid over the cold Southern Ocean, supplying around 25 % of the cloud-forming particles there, a natural, climate-relevant source that models often overlook.
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We examine boundary layer (BL) processes during summer rain in Germany, focusing on air mass exchange and precipitation effects. Using drone and ground observations, and ICON (ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic) model data, we link delayed BL breakup and weak vertical mixing to aerosol formation and chemical processes. ICON predicts mixing layer height under stable conditions but underestimates it during cold pool events, enhancing understanding of frontal weather scenarios and atmospheric changes.
Jianzhong Ma, Bin Chen, Qianshan He, Xiaolu Yan, Gaili Wang, Siyang Cheng, Benedikt Steil, Christoph Brühl, Holger Tost, Michael Höpfner, Andrea Pozzer, and Jos Lelieveld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 8125–8144, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8125-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8125-2026, 2026
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Sarah Brüning and Holger Tost
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SO2 from explosive volcanic eruptions reaching the stratosphere can oxidize and form sulfur aerosols, potentially persisting for several years. We developed a new submodel, Explosive Volcanic ERuptions (EVER), that seamlessly includes stratospheric volcanic SO2 emissions in global numerical simulations based on a novel standard historical model setup, successfully evaluated with satellite observations. Sensitivity studies on the Nabro eruption in 2011 evaluate different emission methods.
Ryan Vella, Matthew Forrest, Andrea Pozzer, Alexandra P. Tsimpidi, Thomas Hickler, Jos Lelieveld, and Holger Tost
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 243–262, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-243-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-243-2025, 2025
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This study examines how land cover changes influence biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions and atmospheric states. Using a coupled chemistry–climate–vegetation model, we compare present-day land cover (deforested for crops and grazing) with natural vegetation and an extreme reforestation scenario. We find that vegetation changes significantly impact global BVOC emissions and organic aerosols but have a relatively small effect on total aerosols, clouds, and radiative effects.
Anna Martin, Veronika Gayler, Benedikt Steil, Klaus Klingmüller, Patrick Jöckel, Holger Tost, Jos Lelieveld, and Andrea Pozzer
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The study evaluates the land surface and vegetation model JSBACHv4 as a replacement for the simplified submodel SURFACE in EMAC. JSBACH mitigates earlier problems of soil dryness, which are critical for vegetation modelling. When analysed using different datasets, the coupled model shows strong correlations of key variables, such as land surface temperature, surface albedo and radiation flux. The versatility of the model increases significantly, while the overall performance does not degrade.
Edward Groot, Patrick Kuntze, Annette Miltenberger, and Holger Tost
Weather Clim. Dynam., 5, 779–803, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-779-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-779-2024, 2024
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Deep convective clouds (thunderstorms), which may cause severe weather, tend to coherently organise into structured cloud systems. Accurate representation of these systems in models is difficult due to their complex dynamics and, in numerical simulations, the dependence of their dynamics on resolution. Here, the effect of convective organisation and geometry on their outflow winds (altitudes of 7–14 km) is investigated. Representation of their dynamics and outflows improves at higher resolution.
Simon Rosanka, Holger Tost, Rolf Sander, Patrick Jöckel, Astrid Kerkweg, and Domenico Taraborrelli
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2597–2615, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2597-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2597-2024, 2024
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The capabilities of the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) are extended to account for non-equilibrium aqueous-phase chemistry in the representation of deliquescent aerosols. When applying the new development in a global simulation, we find that MESSy's bias in modelling routinely observed reduced inorganic aerosol mass concentrations, especially in the United States. Furthermore, the representation of fine-aerosol pH is particularly improved in the marine boundary layer.
Sarah Brüning, Stefan Niebler, and Holger Tost
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 961–978, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-961-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-961-2024, 2024
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We apply the Res-UNet to derive a comprehensive 3D cloud tomography from 2D satellite data over heterogeneous landscapes. We combine observational data from passive and active remote sensing sensors by an automated matching algorithm. These data are fed into a neural network to predict cloud reflectivities on the whole satellite domain between 2.4 and 24 km height. With an average RMSE of 2.99 dBZ, we contribute to closing data gaps in the representation of clouds in observational data.
Ryan Vella, Andrea Pozzer, Matthew Forrest, Jos Lelieveld, Thomas Hickler, and Holger Tost
Biogeosciences, 20, 4391–4412, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4391-2023, 2023
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We investigated the effect of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from plants. ENSO events can cause a significant increase in these emissions, which have a long-term impact on the Earth's atmosphere. Persistent ENSO conditions can cause long-term changes in vegetation, resulting in even higher BVOC emissions. We link ENSO-induced emission anomalies with driving atmospheric and vegetational variables.
Edward Groot and Holger Tost
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6065–6081, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6065-2023, 2023
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It is shown that the outflow from cumulonimbus clouds or thunderstorms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in idealized high-resolution simulations (LESs) depends linearly on the net amount of latent heat released by the cloud for fixed geometry of the clouds. However, it is shown that, in more realistic situations, convective organization and aggregation (collecting mechanisms of cumulonimbus clouds) affect the amount of outflow non-linearly through non-idealized geometry.
Ryan Vella, Matthew Forrest, Jos Lelieveld, and Holger Tost
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 885–906, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-885-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-885-2023, 2023
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Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are released by vegetation and have a major impact on atmospheric chemistry and aerosol formation. Non-interacting vegetation constrains the majority of numerical models used to estimate global BVOC emissions, and thus, the effects of changing vegetation on emissions are not addressed. In this work, we replace the offline vegetation with dynamic vegetation states by linking a chemistry–climate model with a global dynamic vegetation model.
Edward Groot and Holger Tost
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 565–585, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-565-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-565-2023, 2023
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Thunderstorm systems play an important role in the dynamics of the Earth’s atmosphere, and some of them form a well-organised line: squall lines. Simulations of such squall lines with very small initial perturbations are compared to a reference simulation. The evolution of perturbations and processes amplifying them are analysed. It is shown that the formation of new secondary thunderstorm cells (after the initial primary cells) directly ahead of the line affects the spread strongly.
Mohamed Abdelkader, Georgiy Stenchikov, Andrea Pozzer, Holger Tost, and Jos Lelieveld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 471–500, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-471-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-471-2023, 2023
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We study the effect of injected volcanic ash, water vapor, and SO2 on the development of the volcanic cloud and the stratospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD). Both are sensitive to the initial injection height and to the aging of the volcanic ash shaped by heterogeneous chemistry coupled with the ozone cycle. The paper explains the large differences in AOD for different injection scenarios, which could improve the estimate of the radiative forcing of volcanic eruptions.
Andrea Pozzer, Simon F. Reifenberg, Vinod Kumar, Bruno Franco, Matthias Kohl, Domenico Taraborrelli, Sergey Gromov, Sebastian Ehrhart, Patrick Jöckel, Rolf Sander, Veronica Fall, Simon Rosanka, Vlassis Karydis, Dimitris Akritidis, Tamara Emmerichs, Monica Crippa, Diego Guizzardi, Johannes W. Kaiser, Lieven Clarisse, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Holger Tost, and Alexandra Tsimpidi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2673–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2673-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2673-2022, 2022
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A newly developed setup of the chemistry general circulation model EMAC (ECHAM5/MESSy for Atmospheric Chemistry) is evaluated here. A comprehensive organic degradation mechanism is used and coupled with a volatility base model.
The results show that the model reproduces most of the tracers and aerosols satisfactorily but shows discrepancies for oxygenated organic gases. It is also shown that this model configuration can be used for further research in atmospheric chemistry.
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Short summary
Thunderstorms lead to a vertical redistribution of tracers throughout the troposphere. We applied a new tool, the convective exchange matrix, in historical simulations with a chemistry–climate model to investigate the trends in convective transport. This reveals that convection reaches higher but that deep convection occurs less often in the time period from 2011 to 2020 than in the 1980s. Thus, convective transport towards the upper troposphere has declined as an adaptation to climate change.
Thunderstorms lead to a vertical redistribution of tracers throughout the troposphere. We...
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