Evaluation of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model Distributions of HNO3: A Comparison with

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Evaluation of the Whole Atmosphere Community
Climate Model Distributions of HNO3 A
Comparison with HIRDLS Observations

• D. Kinnison, J. Gille, V. Yudin, C. Randall, R.
  Garcia, and the entire HIRDLS Science Team
• HIRDLS Science Team Meeting
• Oxford
• 26 June 2008.
• dkin_at_ucar.edu
• 303-497-1469

WACCM
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Simple Goal

• To show the usefulness of HIRDLS HNO3 observation
  for the evaluation of chemical composition and
  transport processes in 3D chemistry climate
  models - specifically in the extra tropics, lower
  stratosphere.

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Outline

• Briefly Discuss the HIRDLS HNO3 data product
• Show years 2006 and 2007 binned results.
• Briefly discuss the NCAR chemistry climate model.
• Highlighting the HNO3 chemistry.
• Show validation of HIRDLS HNO3 in polar LS.
• Show model/observation comparisons of the
  evolution of HNO3
• Focus mainly on the lower stratosphere.

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HIRDLS HNO3 Data

• EOS Aura HIRDLS Instrument Details
• Sun-synchronous near polar orbit Jan 2005
  March 2008.
• 5000-7000 HNO3 profiles per day 64S to 80N
• HNO3 data is generally good between 100-10hPa
• In the UTLS region, profiles can have useful
  information down to 200-300 hPa (contribution for a priori).
• HNO3 retrieved vertical resolution is in the 1-2
  km range in the UTLS region.
• Individual profile precision is in the 10-15
  range.
• HIRDLS HNO3 (v2.04.09) is bias 0-20 low relative
  to MLS (v2.2)
• HIRDLS HNO3 is bias 10-30 low relative to
  ACE-FTS.

Kinnison, D. E., et al. (2007), Sensitivity of
chemical tracers to meteorological parameters in
the MOZART-3 chemical transport model, J.
Geophys. Res., 112, D20302, doi10.1029/2006JD0078
79.
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Filaments in the UTLS Region
Latitude height comparison of NCEP GFS and HIRDLS
O3 and HNO3 data products. White lines are
horizontal wind contours. Black line is 2 PV
contour. Dashed Black Line is tropopause
height. Blue dashed line is the 400 K contour.
Kinnison, et al., accepted, JGR, Global
observations of HNO3 from HIRDLS - First Results
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Level-2 Binned Data Product

• Version 2.04.19 (interim data product)
• Improved cloud detection algorithms.
• Uses GEOS-5 (instead of GEOS-4) in the retrieval
  system.
• Improvements in representing the open area
  fraction.
• Binned HIRDLS years 2006 and 2007
• 5 latitude x 20 longitude grid.
• A priori contribution 50.

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HIRDLS HNO3 at 26 hPa
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HIRDLS HNO3 at 91 hPa
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HIRDLS HNO3 at 147 hPa
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NCAR Community Climate System Model

Atmosphere CAM3 (WACCM3)
Ocean
Sea Ice
Land
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WACCM3 Model Description
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HNO3 Chemistry / Sources in WACCM

• Production
• NO2 OH M HNO3 M
• N2O5 H2O (on aerosol) 2HNO3 (12 reactions)
• CH2O NO3 CO HO2 HNO3
• Auroral Production (of NOx) in the MLT region.
• Lightning production (of NOx) in the
  troposphere.

• Loss
• HNO3 hv NO2 OH
• HNO3 OH NO3 H2O
• Wet deposition in the troposphere

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HNO3 Chemical Lifetime in days (Burden /
Loss Rate)
20 days
10 days
20 days
10 days
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ACE-FTS / HIRDLS Coincidences
NH Comparisons
2-hour coincidence criterion NH Latitudes 43ºN
80ºN SH Latitudes 35ºS 63ºS Dates 20050709 to
20080314 Max Coincidences 1367
Courtesy of C. Randall
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HNO3 (ppbv)
400 K
January
2.5 PVU
PV and T for HIRDLS figures use GEOS-4 met data.
Overworld
Middleworld
Troposphere
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HNO3 (ppbv)
April
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HNO3 (ppbv)
July
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HNO3 (x 1033 molecules)
HIRDLS WACCM3
HIRDLS WACCM3
10N-70N 2.5PVU - 400K
10N-70N 80hPa - 400K
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HNO3 (x 1033 molecules)
HIRDLS WACCM3
HIRDLS WACCM3
10N-50N 2.5PVU - 400K
10N-50N 80hPa - 400K
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HNO3 (x 1033 molecules)
HIRDLS WACCM3
HIRDLS WACCM3
10N-50N 2.5PVU - 400K
10N-50N 80hPa - 400K
Expanded Y-axis
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HNO3 (x 1033 molecules)
HIRDLS WACCM3
HIRDLS WACCM3
50N-75N 2.5PVU - 400K
50N-75N 80hPa - 400K
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Summary

• HIRDLS HNO3 was used to evaluate HNO3 derived by
  WACCM in the NH lower stratosphere (middleworld
  and overworld).
• Here the abundance of HNO3 is controlled by
  transport processes (Lifetime is 10-20 days).
• NH middleworld Model / observations show a
  similar seasonal magnitude and amplitude (10-75N
  region). Between 10-50N the seasonal amplitude is
  similar, however model peaked earlier in spring.
• NH overworld Model (for this one year) has 30
  more HNO3 in winter than HIRDLS obs. In NH
  summer, HIRDLS HNO3 is larger by about 40. The
  observations have smaller seasonal amplitude than
  model.

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Next Step

• Need a more detailed validation of HIRDLS HNO3 in
  the UTLS region (e.g., MIPAS, MLS, ACE-FTS,
  Aircraft) to verify that the season evolution of
  the this region is useful for process oriented
  model evaluation studies.
• Need to run WACCM with specified meteorological
  fields for more direct comparisons with HIRDLS
  data for a given year.
• A new version of the HIRDLS HNO3 data product
  will be released in Fall 2008.

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The End