This study presents comparisons between vertical water vapor profile measurements from a Raman lidar and a new pre-production broadband differential absorption lidar (DIAL). Vaisala’s novel DIAL system operates autonomously outdoors and measures the vertical profile of water vapor within the boundary layer 24 h a day during all weather conditions. Eight nights of measurements in June and July 2018 were used for the Toronto water vapor lidar inter-comparison field campaign. Both lidars provided reliable atmospheric backscatter and water vapor profile measurements. Comparisons were performed during night-time observations only, when the York Raman lidar could measure the water vapor profile. The purpose was to validate the water vapor profile measurements retrieved by the new DIAL system. The results indicate good agreement between the two lidars, with a mean difference (DIAL–Raman) of 0.17 ± 0.09 g/kg. There were two main causes for differences in their measurements: horizontal displacement between the two lidar sites (3.2 km) and vertical gradients in the water vapor profile. A case study analyzed during the campaign demonstrates the ability for both lidars to measure sudden changes and large gradients in the water vapor’s vertical structure due to a passing frontal system. These results provide an initial validation of the DIAL’s measurements and its ability to be implemented as part of an operational program.

Abstract. Because of their computational expense, models with comprehensive tropospheric chemistry have typically been run with prescribed sea surface temperatures (SSTs), which greatly limits the model's ability to generate climate responses to atmospheric forcings. In the past few years, however, several fully-coupled models with comprehensive tropospheric chemistry have been developed. For example, the Community Earth System Model version 2 with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model version 6 as its atmospheric component (CESM2-WACCM6) has implemented fully interactive tropospheric chemistry with 231 chemical species as well as a fully coupled ocean. Earlier versions of this model used a "SOAG scheme" that prescribes bulk emission of a single gas-phase precursor to secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). The additional chemistry in CESM2-WACCM6 simulates the chemistry of a comprehensive range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) responsible for tropospheric aerosol formation. Such a model offers an opportunity to examine the full climate effects of comprehensive tropospheric chemistry. To examine these effects, 141-year preindustrial control simulations were performed using the following two configurations: 1) the standard CESM2-WACCM6 configuration with interactive chemistry over the whole atmosphere (WACtl), and 2) a simplified CESM2-WACCM6 configuration using a SOAG scheme in the troposphere and interactive chemistry in the middle atmosphere (MACtl). The middle atmospheric chemistry is the same in both configurations, and only the tropospheric chemistry differs. Differences between WACtl and MACtl were analyzed for various fields. Regional differences in annual mean surface temperature range between -4 K and 4 K. These surface temperature changes are comparable to those produced over a century in future climate change scenarios, which motivates future research to investigate possible influences of VOC chemistry on anthropogenic climate change. In the zonal average, there is widespread tropospheric cooling in the extratropics. Longwave forcers are shown to be unlikely drivers of this cooling, and possible shortwave forcers are explored. Evidence is presented that the climate response is primarily due to increased organic nitrates in the troposphere, increased sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere and cloud feedbacks. The possible chemical mechanisms responsible for these changes are discussed. As found in earlier studies, enhanced internal mixing with SOAs in WACtl causes reduced black carbon (BC) and reduced primary organic matter (POM), which are not directly influenced by VOC chemistry. These BC and POM reductions might also contribute to cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. The extratropical tropospheric cooling results in dynamical changes, such as equatorward shifts of the midlatitude jets, which in turn drive extratropical changes in clouds and precipitation. In the tropical upper troposphere, cloud-driven increases in shortwave heating appear to weaken and expand the Hadley circulation, which in turn drives changes in tropical and subtropical precipitation.