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Title: Atmospheric changes caused by galactic cosmic rays over the period 1960–2010

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
  4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Science Systems and Applications Inc., Lanham, MD (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The Specified Dynamics version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (SD-WACCM) and the Goddard Space Flight Center two-dimensional (GSFC 2-D) models are used to investigate the effect of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) on the atmosphere over the 1960–2010 time period. The Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety (NAIRAS) computation of the GCR-caused ionization rates are used in these simulations. GCR-caused maximum NOx increases of 4–15 % are computed in the Southern polar troposphere with associated ozone increases of 1–2 %. NOx increases of ~1–6 % are calculated for the lower stratosphere with associated ozone decreases of 0.2–1 %. The primary impact of GCRs on ozone was due to their production of NOx. The impact of GCRs varies with the atmospheric chlorine loading, sulfate aerosol loading, and solar cycle variation. Because of the interference between the NOx and ClOx ozone loss cycles (e.g., the ClO + NO2+ M → ClONO2+ M reaction) and the change in the importance of ClOx in the ozone budget, GCRs cause larger atmospheric impacts with less chlorine loading. GCRs also cause larger atmospheric impacts with less sulfate aerosol loading and for years closer to solar minimum. GCR-caused decreases of annual average global total ozone (AAGTO) were computed to be 0.2 % or less with GCR-caused column ozone increases between 1000 and 100 hPa of 0.08 % or less and GCR-caused column ozone decreases between 100 and 1 hPa of 0.23 % or less. Although these computed ozone impacts are small, GCRs provide a natural influence on ozone and need to be quantified over long time periods. This result serves as a lower limit because of the use of the ionization model NAIRAS/HZETRN which underestimates the ion production by neglecting electromagnetic and muon branches of the cosmic ray induced cascade. Furthermore, this will be corrected in future works.

Research Organization:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); NASA Headquarters Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI ID:
1268112
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Vol. 16, Issue 9; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 21 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Cosmic Noise Absorption During Solar Proton Events in WACCM‐D and Riometer Observations journal February 2019
Quasi-Decadal Variations of Lower Stratosphere Meteorological Parameters and Total Ozone Global Fields Based on Satellite Data journal December 2018
Implications of potential future grand solar minimum for ozone layer and climate journal January 2018
Middle atmospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen trioxide in 2002–2011: SD-WACCM simulations compared to GOMOS observations journal January 2018
Evaluation of CESM1 (WACCM) free-running and specified dynamics atmospheric composition simulations using global multispecies satellite data records journal January 2019
Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2) journal January 2017
Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2) text January 2017
Implications of potential future grand solar minimum for ozone layer and climate text January 2018
Implications of potential future grand solar minimum for ozone layer and climate text January 2018
Cosmic Noise Absorption During Solar Proton Events in WACCM-D and Riometer Observations text January 2019
Middle atmospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen trioxide in 2002–2011: SD-WACCM simulations compared to GOMOS observations journal December 2017
From Cosmic Explosions to Terrestrial Fires? A Discussion journal July 2020
On the discrepancy of HCl processing in the dark polar vortices posted_content February 2018

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
solar proton events
middle atmosphere
odd nitrogen
2-dimensional model
particle-precipitation
chemical-composition
space exploration
ozone depletion
stratosphere
radiation