Title: Evaluation of the aerosol vertical distribution in global aerosol models through comparison against CALIOP measurements: AeroCom phase II results

Abstract

The ability of 11 models in simulating the aerosol vertical distribution from regional to global scales, as part of the second phase of the AeroCom model intercomparison initiative (AeroCom II), is assessed herein and compared to results of the first phase. The evaluation is performed using a global monthly gridded data set of aerosol extinction profiles built for this purpose from the CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) Layer Product 3.01. Results over 12 subcontinental regions show that five models improved, whereas three degraded in reproducing the interregional variability in Z_{α0–6 km}, the mean extinction height diagnostic, as computed from the CALIOP aerosol profiles over the 0–6 km altitude range for each studied region and season. While the models' performance remains highly variable, the simulation of the timing of the Z_{α0–6 km} peak season has also improved for all but two models from AeroCom Phase I to Phase II. The biases in Z_{α0–6 km} are smaller in all regions except Central Atlantic, East Asia, and North and South Africa. Most of the models now underestimate Z_{α0–6 km} over land, notably in the dust and biomass burning regions in Asia and Africa. At global scale, the AeroCom II models better reproducemore » the Z_{α0–6 km} latitudinal variability over ocean than over land. Hypotheses for the performance and evolution of the individual models and for the intermodel diversity are discussed. We also provide an analysis of the CALIOP limitations and uncertainties contributing to the differences between the simulations and observations.« less

Authors:

Koffi, Brigitte ^[1]; Schulz, Michael ^[2]; Bréon, François-Marie ^[3]; Dentener, Frank ^[1]; Steensen, Birthe Marie ^[2]; Griesfeller, Jan ^[2]; Winker, David ^[4]; Balkanski, Yves ^[3]; Bauer, Susanne E. ^[5]; Bellouin, Nicolas ^[6]; Berntsen, Terje ^[7]; Bian, Huisheng ^[8]; Chin, Mian ^[9]; Diehl, Thomas ^[1]; Easter, Richard ^[10]; Ghan, Steven  ^[10];

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Hauglustaine, Didier A. ^[3]; Iversen, Trond ^[11]; Kirkevåg, Alf ^[2]; Liu, Xiaohong ^[12] more »; Lohmann, Ulrike ^[13]; Myhre, Gunnar ^[14]; Rasch, Phil ^[9]; Seland, Øyvind ^[2]; Skeie, Ragnhild B. ^[14]; Steenrod, Stephen D. ^[9]; Stier, Philip ^[15]; Tackett, Jason ^[16]; Takemura, Toshihiko ^[17]; Tsigaridis, Kostas  ^[5];

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Vuolo, Maria Raffaella ^[18]; Yoon, Jinho ^[19]; Zhang, Kai ^[20] « less

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. European Commission, Ispra (Italy). Joint Research Centre, Inst. for Environment and Sustainability
2. Norwegian Meteorological Inst., Oslo (Norway)
3. Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
4. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
5. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States); NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies (GISS), New York, NY (United States)
6. Univ. of Reading, Reading (United Kingdom)
7. Univ. of Oslo (Norway); Center for International Climate and Environmental Research-Oslo (CICERO), Oslo (Norway)
8. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
9. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
10. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
11. Norwegian Meteorological Inst., Oslo (Norway); Univ. of Oslo (Norway)
12. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
13. ETH-Zentrum, Zürich (Switzerland)
14. Center for International Climate and Environmental Research-Oslo (CICERO), Oslo (Norway)
15. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
16. Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA (United States)
17. Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan)
18. Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette (France); National Inst. for Agronomic Research, Thiverval-Grignon (France)
19. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gwangju Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea)
20. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Max Planck Inst. for Meteorology, Hamburg (Germany)

Publication Date:

Mon Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR). Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Research Council of Norway; European Commission (EC); Norwegian Space Center

OSTI Identifier:

1324897

Report Number(s):

PNNL-SA-114059
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X; KP1703020

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-76RL01830; SLAC; AEROCOM-P3; ClimSense

Resource Type:

Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 121; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X

Publisher:

American Geophysical Union

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; aerosol vertical profile; global climate models; AeroCom; CALIOP global extinction product