Current model capabilities for simulating black carbon and sulfate concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere: a multi-model evaluation using a comprehensive measurement data set

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Eckhardt, S., Quennehen, Boris, Olivié, D. J. L., Berntsen, T. K., Cherian, R., Christensen, J. H., Collins, W., Crepinsek, S., Daskalakis, Nikolaos, Flanner, M., Herber, A., Heyes, C., Hodnebrog, Ø., Huang, L., Kanakidou, M., Klimont, Z., Langner, J., Law, Kathy S., Lund, M. T., Mahmood, R., Massling, A., Myriokefalitakis, S., Nielsen, I. E., Nøjgaard, J. K., Quaas, J., Quinn, P. K., Raut, Jean-Christophe, Rumbold, S. T., Schulz, M, Sharma, S., Skeie, R. B., Skov, H., Uttal, T., Von Salzen, K., Stohl, A.
• Other Authors: Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), TROPO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Norwegian Meteorological Institute Oslo (MET), Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo (CICERO), University of Oslo (UiO), Leipziger Institut für Meteorologie (LIM), Universität Leipzig Leipzig, Department of Environmental Science Roskilde (ENVS), Aarhus University Aarhus, University of Reading (UOR), Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change (MOHC), United Kingdom Met Office Exeter, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory Heraklion (ECPL), Department of Chemistry Heraklion, University of Crete Heraklion (UOC)-University of Crete Heraklion (UOC), Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Ann Arbor (AOSS), University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of Michigan System-University of Michigan System, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Laxenburg (IIASA), Climate Research Division Toronto, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), School of Earth and Ocean Sciences Victoria (SEOS), University of Victoria Canada (UVIC), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Islamabad (CIIT), Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences - Hellas Crete (ICE-HT), Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Seattle (PMEL), Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: geo; envir; Arctic; Station Nord; Tiksi; black carbon; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9413-2015; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01140950/file/acp-15-9413-2015.pdf; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01140950

International audience The concentrations of sulfate, black carbon (BC) and other aerosols in the Arctic are characterized by high values in late winter and spring (so-called Arctic Haze) and low values in summer. Models have long been struggling to capture this seasonality and especially the high concentrations associated with Arctic Haze. In this study, we evaluate sulfate and BC concentrations from eleven different models driven with the same emission inventory against a comprehensive pan-Arctic measurement data set over a time period of two years (2008–2009). The set of models consisted of one Lagrangian particle dispersion model, four chemistry-transport models (CTMs), one atmospheric chemistry-weather forecast model and five chemistry-climate models (CCMs), of which two were nudged to meteorological analyses and three were running freely. The measurement data set consisted of surface measurements of equivalent BC (eBC) from five stations (Alert, Barrow, Pallas, Tiksi and Zeppelin), elemental carbon (EC) from Station Nord and Alert and aircraft measurements of refractory BC (rBC) from six different campaigns. We find that the models generally captured the measured eBC/rBC and sulfate concentrations quite well, compared to past comparisons. However, the aerosol seasonality at the surface is still too weak in most models. Concentrations of eBC and sulfate averaged over three surface sites are underestimated in winter/spring in all but one model (model means for January-March underestimated by 59 and 37% for BC and sulfate, respectively), whereas concentrations in summer are overestimated in the model mean (by 88 and 44% for July–September), but with over- as well as underestimates present in individual models. The most pronounced eBC underestimates, not included in the above multi-site average, are found for the station Tiksi in Siberia where the measured annual mean eBC concentration is three times higher than the average annual mean for all other stations. This suggests an underestimate of BC sources in ...