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NASA NTRS2021

Technical Note: AQMEII4 Activity 1: Evaluation of Wet and Dry Deposition Schemes as an Integral Part of Regional-scale Air Quality Models

We present in this technical note the research protocol for phase 4 of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII4). This research initiative is divided into two activities, collectively having three goals: (i) to define the current state of the science with respect to representations of wet and especially dry deposition in regional models, (ii) to quantify the extent to which different dry deposition parameterizations influence retrospective air pollutant concentration and flux predictions, and (iii) to identify, through the use of a common set of detailed diagnostics, sensitivity simulations, model evaluation, and reduction of input uncertainty, the specific causes for the current range of these predictions. Activity 1 is dedicated to the diagnostic evaluation of wet and dry deposition processes in regional air quality models (described in this paper), and Activity 2 to the evaluation of dry deposition point models against ozone flux measurements at multiple towers with multiyear observations (to be described in future submissions as part of the special issue on AQMEII4). The scope of this paper is to present the scientific protocols for Activity 1, as well as to summarize the technical information associated with the different dry deposition approaches used by the participating research groups of AQMEII4. In addition to describing all common aspects and data used for this multi-model evaluation activity, most importantly, we present the strategy devised to allow a common process-level comparison of dry deposition obtained from models using sometimes very different dry deposition schemes. The strategy is based on adding detailed diagnostics to the algorithms used in the dry deposition modules of existing regional air quality models, in particular archiving diagnostics specific to land use–land cover (LULC) and creating standardized LULC categories to facilitate cross-comparison of LULC-specific dry deposition parameters and processes, as well as archiving effective conductance and effective flux as means for comparing the relative influence of different pathways towards the net or total dry deposition. This new approach, along with an analysis of precipitation and wet deposition fields, will provide an unprecedented process-oriented comparison of deposition in regional air quality models. Examples of how specific dry deposition schemes used in participating models have been reduced to the common set of comparable diagnostics defined for AQMEII4 are also presented.

Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiat↗

NASA NTRS1986

A particle dry-deposition parameterization scheme for use in tracer transport models

A parameterization scheme for the dry deposition of aerosol particles for use in tracer transport models is presented. Expressions of the particle deposition velocities relative to the bottom transport model level are derived for smooth surfaces, surfaces with bluff roughness elements, ocean surfaces, and vegetative canopies. The scheme is applied to a general circulation model to calculate the deposition velocities of ambient tropospheric aerosols. The calculated deposition velocities show a strong dependence upon the wind field in the bottom model level, the particle size distribution, and the surface type.

Giorgi, F.↗

NASA NTRS2022

Importance of Different Parameterization Changes for the Updated Dust Cycle Modeling in the Community Atmosphere Model (Version 6.1)

The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM6.1), the atmospheric component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM; version 2.1), simulates the life cycle (emission, transport, and deposition) of mineral dust and its interactions with physio-chemical components to quantify the impacts of dust on climate and the Earth system. The accuracy of such quantifications relies on how well dust-related processes are represented in the model. Here we update the parameterizations for the dust module, including those on the dust emission scheme, the aerosol dry deposition scheme, the size distribution of transported dust, and the treatment of dust particle shape. Multiple simulations were undertaken to evaluate the model performance against diverse observations, and to understand how each update alters the modeled dust cycle and the simulated dust direct radiative effect. The model–observation comparisons suggest that substantially improved model representations of the dust cycle are achieved primarily through the new more physically-based dust emission scheme. In comparison, the other modifications induced small changes to the modeled dust cycle and model–observation comparisons, except the size distribution of dust in the coarse mode, which can be even more influential than that of replacing the dust emission scheme. We highlight which changes introduced here are important for which regions, shedding light on further dust model developments required for more accurately estimating interactions between dust and climate.

mineral dust parameterizations↗

NASA NTRS2023

A Single-Point Modeling Approach for the Intercomparison and Evaluation of Ozone Dry Deposition Across Chemical Transport Models (Activity 2 of AQMEII4)

A primary sink of air pollutants and their precursors is dry deposition. Dry deposition estimates differ across chemical transport models, yet an understanding of the model spread is incomplete. Here, we introduce Activity 2 of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative Phase 4 (AQMEII4). We examine 18 dry deposition schemes from regional and global chemical transport models as well as standalone models used for impact assessments or process understanding. We configure the schemes as single-point models at eight Northern Hemisphere locations with observed ozone fluxes. Single-point models are driven by a common set of site-specific meteorological and environmental conditions. Five of eight sites have at least 3 years and up to 12 years of ozone fluxes. The interquartile range across models in multiyear mean ozone deposition velocities ranges from a factor of 1.2 to 1.9 annually across sites and tends to be highest during winter compared with summer. No model is within 50 % of observed multiyear averages across all sites and seasons, but some models perform well for some sites and seasons. For the first time, we demonstrate how contributions from depositional pathways vary across models. Models can disagree with respect to relative contributions from the pathways, even when they predict similar deposition velocities, or agree with respect to the relative contributions but predict different deposition velocities. Both stomatal and nonstomatal uptake contribute to the large model spread across sites. Our findings are the beginning of results from AQMEII4 Activity 2, which brings scientists who model air quality and dry deposition together with scientists who measure ozone fluxes to evaluate and improve dry deposition schemes in the chemical transport models used for research, planning, and regulatory purposes.

Dry deposition↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Quantifying the Influence of Mechanistic Representation of Particle Dry Deposition on Historical Changes in Aerosol-Climate Interactions

Dry deposition removes short-lived climate forcers and their precursors from the atmosphere. The aerosol dry deposition schemes in many global climate models have been untouched for decades. Previous work hints that aerosol dry deposition is an uncertainty with respect to aerosol impacts on climate change. Here we demonstrate the impact of a more mechanistic aerosol dry deposition parameterization on the historical aerosol direct and cloud albedo effects using the NASA GISS global chemistry-climate model. We investigate two aerosol configurations – a “bulk” mass-based scheme and a modal scheme that more explicitly represents internal mixing and microphysics – of the global model. Both configurations show ~20% larger historical increases in non-dust aerosols globally with more mechanistic dry deposition. Changes to particle dry deposition, which are strongly a function of particle diameter, have a greater influence on the cloud albedo effect (up to 0.1 W m-2) when aerosols are more explicitly resolved in the modal scheme. On the other hand, impacts on the direct aerosol effect are small for both model configurations. In both aerosol configurations, the global climate effects are relatively insensitive to uncertainty in the strength of the uptake to dry deposition as suggested by (limited) measurements. In general, the low number of aerosol flux measurements and strong variability across existing observations challenge confidence in our understanding of dry depositional processes and changes with environmental conditions. Nonetheless, our work suggests that changes in dry deposition may be important for accurately estimating increases in aerosol abundances over the historical period, which is key for correct inferences about how cooling from aerosols has offset warming from greenhouse gases.

Dry deposition↗

NASA NTRS2024

Influence of More Mechanistic Representation of Particle Dry Deposition on 1850–2000 Changes in Global Aerosol Burdens and Radiative Forcing

Robust estimates of historical changes in aerosols are key for accurate constraints on climate sensitivity. Dry deposition is a primary sink of aerosols from the atmosphere. However, most global climate models do not accurately represent observed strong dependencies of dry deposition following turbulent transport on aerosol size. It is unclear whether there is a substantial impact of mischaracterized aerosol deposition velocities on historical aerosol changes. Here we describe improved mechanistic representation of aerosol dry deposition in the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global climate model, ModelE, and illustrate the impact on 1850–2000 changes in global aerosol burdens as well as aerosol direct and cloud albedo effects using a set of 1850 and 2000 time slice simulations. We employ two aerosol configurations of ModelE (a “bulk” mass-based configuration and a configuration that more explicitly represents aerosol size distributions, internal mixing, and microphysics) to explore how model structural differences in aerosol representation alter the response to representation of dry deposition. Both configurations show larger historical increases in the global burdens of non-dust aerosols with the new dry deposition scheme, by 11% in the simpler mass-based configuration and 23% in the more complex microphysical configuration. Historical radiative forcing responses, which vary in magnitude from 5% to 12% as well as sign, depend on the aerosol configuration.

aerosol↗

NASA NTRS2022

Satellite Soil Moisture Data Assimilation Impacts on Modeling Weather Variables and Ozone in the Southeastern US – Part 2: Sensitivity to Dry-Deposition Parameterizations

Ozone (O3) dry deposition is a major O3 sink. As a follow-up study of Huang et al. (2021), we quantify the impact of satellite soil moisture (SM) on model representations of this process when different dry-deposition parameterizations are implemented, based on which the implications for interpreting O3 air pollution levels and assessing the O3 impacts on human and ecosystem health are provided. The SM data from NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive mission are assimilated into the Noah-Multiparameterization (Noah-MP) land surface model within the NASA Land Information System framework, semicoupled with Weather Research and Forecasting model with online Chemistry (WRF-Chem) regional-scale simulations covering the southeastern US. Major changes in the modeling system used include enabling the dynamic vegetation option, adding the irrigation process, and updating the scheme for the surface exchange coefficient. Two dry-deposition schemes are implemented, i.e., the Wesely scheme and a “dynamic” scheme, in the latter of which dry-deposition parameterization is coupled with photosynthesis and vegetation dynamics. It is demonstrated that, when the dynamic scheme is applied, the simulated O3 dry-deposition velocities vd and their stomatal and cuticular portions, as well as the total O3 fluxes Ft, are larger overall; vd and Ft are 2–3 times more sensitive to the SM changes due to the data assimilation (DA). Further, through case studies at two forested sites with different soil types and hydrological regimes, we highlight that, applying the Community Land Model type of SM factor controlling stomatal resistance (i.e., β factor) scheme in replacement of the Noah-type β factor scheme reduced the v(d) sensitivity to SM changes by ∼75 % at one site, while it doubled this sensitivity at the other site. Referring to multiple evaluation datasets, which may be associated with variable extents of uncertainty, the model performance of vegetation, surface fluxes, weather, and surface O3 concentrations shows mixed responses to the DA, some of which display land cover dependency. Finally, using model-derived concentration- and flux-based policy-relevant O3 metrics as well as their matching exposure–response functions, the relative biomass/crop yield losses for several types of vegetation/crops are estimated to be within a wide range of 1 %–17 %. Their sensitivities to the model's dry-deposition scheme and the implementation of SM DA are discussed.

Min Huang↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Impacts of Improved Process Representation of Particle Dry Deposition on PM Pollution in a Global Chemistry-Climate Model: Differences Across Regions, Seasons, and PM Sizes

Dry deposition (DD) is a primary removal pathway of particulate matter (PM). The aerosol DD schemes in most global models do not reflect current mechanistic understanding gleaned from observations. The NASA GISS global chemistry-climate model has a new and more dynamic DD scheme that largely captures observed changes in deposition velocities with particle size. We quantify the response of simulated PM to changes in the DD scheme for the Northeast US, Central Europe, North China Plain, and Punjab. Relative to the widely used old scheme, the new scheme shows higher annual PM2.5 for all regions (up to +14%) except C. Europe where there are very small decreases. For PM1, annual increases occur over all regions (up to +20%). For PM10, there are decreases in C. Europe (-8%) and very small decreases in the NE US yet increases (up to +12%) in Punjab and N. China Plain. While there are always increases across seasons for Punjab and N. China Plain, there are both seasonal increases and decreases for the NE US and C. Europe. Given incomplete understanding of observed variations in deposition velocities for a given particle size, we perform sensitivity simulations that perturb the magnitude of the deposition velocities simulated by the new scheme. The annual PM response to increasing DD is similar in magnitude to decreasing DD, implying linearity in the PM sensitivity to DD. The relative annual response to perturbing the DD magnitude is weaker over Punjab and sometimes N. China Plain than the NE US and C. Europe. Higher PM over Punjab and N. China Plain implies a stronger sensitivity to DD when aerosol abundances are low. More mechanistic representation of aerosol DD can sometimes improve or worsen existing model PM biases, which suggests that PM biases due to other processes can be confounded or compounded by biases in DD. Further improvements to DD parameterizations require not only more observational constraints on aerosol deposition velocities but also an advanced understanding of the processes controlling observed variability.

Environmental pollution↗

NASA NTRS1994

A double-moment multiple-phase four-class bulk ice scheme, Part 1: Description

A detailed ice-phase bulk microphysical scheme has been developed for simulating the hydrometeor distributions of convective and stratiform precipitation in different large-scale environmental conditions. The proposed scheme involves 90 distinct microphysical processes, which predict the mixing ratios and the number concentrations of small ice crystals, snow, graupel, and frozen drops/hail, as well as the mixing ratios of liquid water on wet precipitation ice (snow, graupel, frozen drops). The number of adjustable coefficients has been significantly reduced in comparison with other bulk schemes. Additional improvements have been made to the parameterization in the following areas: (1) representing small ice crystals with nonzero terminal fall velocities and dispersive size distributions, (2) accurate and computationally efficient calculations of precipitation collection processes, (3) reformulating the collection equation to prevent unrealistically large accretion rates, (4) more realistic conversion by riming between different classes of precipitation ice, (5) preventing unrealistically large rates of raindrop freezing and freezing of liquid water on ice, (6) detailed treatment of various rime-splintering ice multiplication mechanisms, (7) a simple representation of the Hobbs-Rangno ice enhancement process, (8) aggregation of small ice crystals and snow, and (9) allowing explicit competition between cloud water condensation and ice deposition rates rather than using saturation adjustment techniques. For the purposes of conserving the higher moments of the particle distributions, preserving the spectral widths (or slopes) of the particle spectra is shown to be more important than strict conservation of particle number concentration when parameterizing changes in ice-particle number concentrations due to melting, vapor transfer processes (sublimation of dry ice, evaporation from wet ice), and conversion between different hydrometeor species. The microphysical scheme is incorporated into a nonhydrostatic cloud model in Part 2 of this study. The model performed well in simulating the radar and microphysical structures of a midlatitude-continental squall lines and a tropical-maritime squall system with minimal tuning of the parameterization, even though the vertical profiles of radar reflectivity differed substantially between these storms.

Ferrier, Brad Shoenberg↗

NASA NTRS2004

Tropical Convective Responses to Microphysical and Radiative Processes: A Sensitivity Study With a 2D Cloud Resolving Model

Prognostic cloud schemes are increasingly used in weather and climate models in order to better treat cloud-radiation processes. Simplifications are often made in such schemes for computational efficiency, like the scheme being used in the National Centers for Environment Prediction models that excludes some microphysical processes and precipitation-radiation interaction. In this study, sensitivity tests with a 2D cloud resolving model are carried out to examine effects of the excluded microphysical processes and precipitation-radiation interaction on tropical thermodynamics and cloud properties. The model is integrated for 10 days with the imposed vertical velocity derived from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment. The experiment excluding the depositional growth of snow from cloud ice shows anomalous growth of cloud ice and more than 20% increase of fractional cloud cover, indicating that the lack of the depositional snow growth causes unrealistically large mixing ratio of cloud ice. The experiment excluding the precipitation-radiation interaction displays a significant cooling and drying bias. The analysis of heat and moisture budgets shows that the simulation without the interaction produces more stable upper troposphere and more unstable mid and lower troposphere than does the simulation with the interaction. Thus, the suppressed growth of ice clouds in upper troposphere and stronger radiative cooling in mid and lower troposphere are responsible for the cooling bias, and less evaporation of rain associated with the large-scale subsidence induces the drying in mid and lower troposphere.

Li, Xiao-Fan↗

NASA NTRS1996

Demonstration of the Feasibility of High Temperature Bearing Lubrication From Carbonaceous Gases

Research has been conducted on silicon nitride pin-on-disk sliding contacts at temperatures of up to 520 C, and four-ball rolling contacts with silicon nitride balls and 52100 steel or silicon nitride races at 590 C. These tests were conducted in a variety of gaseous environments in order to determine the effects of simulated engine exhaust gas on the carbonaceous gas decomposition lubrication scheme. In rolling tests with steel races and exhaust gas the wear track depth was roughly half that of tests run in nitrogen gas alone. The deposition of lubricous microcrystalline graphitic carbon on the rolling surfaces, generated from the carbon monoxide within the exhaust gas mixture, was verified by microfocused Raman spectroscopy. Ten-fold reductions in rolling wear could be achieved by the exhaust gas atmosphere in cases where water vapor was removed or not present. The exhaust gas mixture alone was not found to provide any lubricating effect on silicon nitride sliding contacts, where the rate of wear greatly exceeds the rate of carbon deposition. Directed admixture of acetylene (as low as 5% of the exhaust gas flow rates), has provided reductions in both wear volume and coefficient of friction by factors of 60X and 20X respectively for sliding contacts during the initial 80 m of sliding distance. Exhaust gas atmosphere with the acetylene admixture provided 65OX reductions in steady state wear rate compared to that measured for sliding contacts in dry N2. Such acetylene admixture also augments the ability of the exhaust gas atmosphere to lubricate high-temperature rolling contacts, with up to 25-fold reductions in wear track depth compared to those measured in the presence of N2 alone. In addition to providing some lubricating benefit itself, an important potential role of the exhaust gas from rich mixtures would be to shield bearings from 02. Such shielding enables surface deposition of lubricous pyrolytic carbon from the acetylene admixture, instead of combustion, rendering feasible the continuously replenished solid lubrication of high-temperature bearing surfaces.

Blanchet, Thierry A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Darkening of the Greenland Ice Sheet: Trends, Drivers and Projections (1981-2100)

The surface energy balance and meltwater production of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) are modulated by snow and ice albedo through the amount of absorbed solar radiation. Here we show, using space-borne multispectral data collected during the 3 decades from 1981 to 2012, that summertime surface albedo over the GrIS decreased at a statistically significant (99 %) rate of 0.02 decade(sup -1) between 1996 and 2012. Over the same period, albedo modelled by the Modele Atmospherique Regionale (MAR) also shows a decrease, though at a lower rate (approximately -0.01 decade(sup -1)) than that obtained from space-borne data. We suggest that the discrepancy between modelled and measured albedo trends can be explained by the absence in the model of processes associated with the presence of light-absorbing impurities. The negative trend in observed albedo is confined to the regions of the GrIS that undergo melting in summer, with the dry snow zone showing no trend. The period 1981-1996 also showed no statistically significant trend over the whole GrIS. Analysis of MAR outputs indicates that the observed albedo decrease is attributable to the combined effects of increased near-surface air temperatures, which enhanced melt and promoted growth in snow grain size and the expansion of bare ice areas, and to trends in light-absorbing impurities (LAI) on the snow and ice surfaces. Neither aerosol models nor in situ and remote sensing observations indicate increasing trends in LAI in the atmosphere over Greenland. Similarly, an analysis of the number of fires and BC emissions from fires points to the absence of trends for such quantities. This suggests that the apparent increase of LAI in snow and ice might be related to the exposure of a "dark band" of dirty ice and to increased consolidation of LAI at the surface with melt, not to increased aerosol deposition. Albedo projections through to the end of the century under different warming scenarios consistently point to continued darkening, with albedo anomalies averaged over the whole ice sheet lower by 0.08 in 2100 than in 2000, driven solely by a warming climate. Future darkening is likely underestimated because of known underestimates in modelled melting (as seen in hindcasts) and because the model albedo scheme does not currently include the effects of LAI, which have a positive feedback on albedo decline through increased melting, grain growth, and darkening.

surface energy↗