Identification

Title

Aviation 2006 NOx-induced effects on atmospheric ozone and HOx in Community Earth System Model (CESM)

Abstract

The interaction between atmospheric chemistry and ozone (O3) in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) presents a major uncertainty in understanding the effects of aviation on climate. In this study, two configurations of the atmospheric model from the Community Earth System Model (CESM), Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry, Version 4 (CAM4) and Version 5 (CAM5), are used to evaluate the effects of aircraft nitrogen oxide (NOx = NO + NO2) emissions on ozone and the background chemistry in the UTLS. CAM4 and CAM5 simulations were both performed with extensive tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry including 133 species and 330 photochemical reactions. CAM5 includes direct and indirect aerosol effects on clouds using a modal aerosol module (MAM), whereby CAM4 uses a bulk aerosol module, which can only simulate the direct effect. To examine the accuracy of the aviation NOx-induced ozone distribution in the two models, results from the CAM5 and CAM4 simulations are compared to ozonesonde data. Aviation NOx emissions for 2006 were obtained from the AEDT (Aviation Environmental Design Tool) global commercial aircraft emissions inventory. Differences between simulated O3 concentrations and ozonesonde measurements averaged at representative levels in the troposphere and different regions are 13% in CAM5 and 18% in CAM4. Results show a localized increase in aviation-induced O3 concentrations at aviation cruise altitudes that stretches from 40° N to the North Pole. The results indicate a greater and more disperse production of aviation NOx-induced ozone in CAM5, with the annual tropospheric mean O3 perturbation of 1.2 ppb (2.4%) for CAM5 and 1.0 ppb (1.9%) for CAM4. The annual mean O3 perturbation peaks at about 8.2 ppb (6.4%) and 8.8 ppb (5.2%) in CAM5 and CAM4, respectively. Aviation emissions also result in increased hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations and methane (CH4) loss rates, reducing the tropospheric methane lifetime in CAM5 and CAM4 by 1.69 and 1.40%, respectively. Aviation NOx emissions are associated with an instantaneous change in global mean short-term O3 radiative forcing (RF) of 40.3 and 36.5 mWm−2 in CAM5 and CAM4, respectively.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vx0hgp

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-09-19T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact