The POLARCAT Model Intercomparison Project (POLMIP): overview and evaluation with observations

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Emmons, Louisa, Arnold, Stephen, Monks, Sarah, Huijnen, Vincent, Tilmes, S., Law, Kathy S., Thomas, Jennie L., Raut, Jean-Christophe, Bouarar, Idir, Turquety, Solène, Long, Y., Duncan, B., Steenrod, S., Strode, S., Flemming, J., Mao, J., Langner, J., Thompson, A. M., Tarasick, D., Apel, E. C., Blake, D. R., Cohen, R. C., Dibb, Jack, Diskin, G. S., Fried, A., Hall, S. R., Huey, L., Weinheimer, A. J., Wisthaler, A., Mikoviny, T., Nowak, J., Peischl, J., Roberts, J. M., Ryerson, T., Warneke, C., Helmig, D.
• Other Authors: National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science Leeds (ICAS), School of Earth and Environment Leeds (SEE), University of Leeds-University of Leeds, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), 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), Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Universities Space Research Association (USRA), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program Princeton (AOS Program), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-Princeton University, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Environment and Climate Change Canada, Department of Chemistry Irvine, University of California Irvine (UC Irvine), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Durham (EOS), University of New Hampshire (UNH), NASA Langley Research Center Hampton (LaRC), University of Colorado Boulder, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Atlanta, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck - University of Innsbruck, Aerodyne Research Inc., NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Institute of Arctic Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder (INSTAAR)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Arctic; Canada; International Polar Year
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01088391; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01088391/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01088391/file/acp-15-6721-2015.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015

International audience A model intercomparison activity was inspired by the large suite of atmospheric chemistry observations made during the International Polar Year (2008) in the Arctic. Nine global and two regional chemical transport models have performed simulations for 2008 using a common emissions inventory to quantify the differences in model chemistry and transport schemes. This paper summarizes the models and compares their simulations of ozone and its precursors, and presents an evaluation of the simulations using a variety of surface, balloon, aircraft and satellite observations. Despite using the same emissions, large differences are seen among the models. Differences in a number of model parameters are identified as contributing to differences in the modelled chemical species, including cloud fields and photolysis rates. The largest differences among models, and between models and observations, are in NOy partitioning (PAN vs. HNO3) and in oxygenated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as acetaldehyde and acetone. Comparisons to surface site measurements of ethane and propane indicate that the emissions of these species are significantly underestimated. While limited in spatial and temporal coverage, the aircraft measurements provide a simultaneous evaluation of many species. Satellite observations of NO2 from OMI have been used to evaluate the models over source regions, indicating anthropogenic emissions are underestimated in East Asia, but fire emissions are generally overestimated. The emission factors for wildfires in Canada are evaluated using the correlations of VOCs to CO in the model output in comparison to enhancement factors derived from aircraft observations, showing reasonable agreement for methanol and acetaldehyde, but underestimate of ethanol, propane and acetone, while overestimating ethane emission factors.