NASA NTRS · 19990019895
Aviation Fuel Tracer Simulation: Model Intercomparison and Implications
Abstract
An upper limit for aircraft-produced perturbations to aerosols and gaseous exhaust products in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) is derived using the 1992 aviation fuel tracer simulation performed by eleven global atmospheric models. Key findings are that subsonic aircraft emissions: (1) have not been responsible for the observed water vapor trends at 40degN; (2) could be a significant source of soot mass near 12 km, but not at 20 km; (3) might cause a noticeable increase in the background sulfate aerosol surface area and number densities (but not mass density) near the northern mid-latitude tropopause; and (4) could provide a global, annual mean top of the atmosphere radiative forcing up to +0.006 W/sq m and -0.013 W/sq m due to emitted soot and sulfur, respectively.
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Danilin, M. Y., Fahey, D. W., Schumann, U., Prather, M. J., Penner, J. E., Ko, M. K. W., Weisenstein, D. K., Jackman, C. H., Pitari, G., Koehler, I., Sausen, R., Weaver, C. J., Douglass, A. R., Connell, P. S., Kinnison, D. E., Dentener, F. J., Fleming, E. L., Berntsen, T. K., Isaksen, I. S. A.. 1998-11-01. Aviation Fuel Tracer Simulation: Model Intercomparison and Implications. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19990019895
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