0000000000147151
AUTHOR
Klaus-dirk Gottschaldt
Global sensitivity of aviation NO<sub>x</sub> effects to the HNO<sub>3</sub>-forming channel of the HO<sub>2</sub> + NO reaction
Abstract. The impact of a recently proposed HNO3-forming channel of the HO2 + NO reaction on atmospheric ozone, methane and their precursors is assessed with the aim to investigate its effects on aviation NOx induced radiative forcing. The first part of the study addresses the differences in stratospheric and tropospheric HOx-NOx chemistry in general, by comparing a global climate simulation without the above reaction to two simulations with different rate coefficient parameterizations for HO2 + NO → HNO3. A possible enhancement of the reaction by humidity, as found by a laboratory study, particularly reduces the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere, increasing methane lifetime significantl…
Trace gas composition in the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone: a case study based on aircraft observations and model simulations
We present in situ measurements of the trace gas composition of the upper tropospheric (UT) Asian summer monsoon anticyclone (ASMA) performed with the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) in the frame of the Earth System Model Validation (ESMVal) campaign. Air masses with enhanced O3 mixing ratios were encountered after entering the ASMA at its southern edge at about 150 hPa on 18 September 2012. This is in contrast to the presumption that the anticyclone's interior is dominated by recently uplifted air with low O3 in the monsoon season. We also observed enhanced CO and HCl in the ASMA, which are tracers for boundary layer pollution and tropopause layer (TL) air or stratosp…
Impact of rocket exhaust plumes on atmospheric composition and climate – an overview
Rockets are the only direct anthropogenic emission sources into the upper atmosphere. Gaseous rocket emissions include CO, N2, H2, H2O, and CO2, while solid rocket motors (SRM) additionally inject significant amounts of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) particles and gaseous chlorine species into the atmosphere. These emissions strongly perturb local at- mospheric trace gas and aerosol distributions. Here, the previous aircraft measurements in various rocket exhaust plumes including several large space shuttle launch vehicles are compiled. The observed changes of the lower stratospheric composition in the near field are summarized.
Earth System Chemistry integrated Modelling (ESCiMo) with the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) version 2.51
Abstract. Three types of reference simulations, as recommended by the Chemistry–Climate Model Initiative (CCMI), have been performed with version 2.51 of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts – Hamburg (ECHAM)/Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model: hindcast simulations (1950–2011), hindcast simulations with specified dynamics (1979–2013), i.e. nudged towards ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and combined hindcast and projection simulations (1950–2100). The manuscript summarizes the updates of the model system and details the different model set-ups used, including the on-line calculated diagnostics. Simulations have been performed with two diff…
In-situ observations of young contrails – overview and selected results from the CONCERT campaign
Lineshaped contrails were detected with the research aircraft Falcon during the CONCERT – CONtrail and Cirrus ExpeRimenT – campaign in October/November 2008. The Falcon was equipped with a set of instruments to measure the particle size distribution, shape, extinction and chemical composition as well as trace gas mixing ratios of sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2</sub>), reactive nitrogen and halogen species (NO, NO<sub>y</sub>, HNO<sub>3</sub>, HONO, HCl), ozone (O<sub>3</sub>) and carbon monoxide (CO). During 12 mission flights over Europe, numerous contrails, cirrus clouds and a volcanic aerosol layer were probed at altitudes between 8.5 and 11.6 km…
A quasi chemistry-transport model mode for EMAC
Abstract. A quasi chemistry-transport model mode (QCTM) is presented for the numerical chemistry-climate simulation system ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC). It allows for a quantification of chemical signals through suppression of any feedback between chemistry and dynamics. Noise would otherwise interfere too strongly. The signal is calculated from the difference of two QCTM simulations, a reference simulation and a sensitivity simulation. In order to avoid the feedbacks, the simulations adopt the following offline chemical fields: (a) offline mixing ratios of radiatively active substances enter the radiation scheme, (b) offline mixing ratios of nitric acid enter the scheme for re-…