Direct and semi‐direct radiative effects of absorbing aerosols in Europe: Results from a regional model

Meier, Jessica; Tegen, Ina; Heinold, Bernd; Wolke, Ralf

doi:10.1029/2012gl050994

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Heinold et al, 2007;Helmert et al, 2007). In addition to parametrizing particle fluxes and transformations, the influence of aerosols by modifying solar and thermal radiative fluxes on temperature, wind fields, and cloud dynamics are considered (Heinold et al, 2011a;Meier et al, 2012b). Furthermore, the distribution of the Volcano ash plume over Europe has been analysed (Heinold et al, 2011b).…”

Section: A3 Cosmo-muscat Germanymentioning

confidence: 99%

Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects

et al. 2014

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Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. A. Baklanov et al.: Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in EuropeAbstract. Online coupled mesoscale meteorology atmospheric chemistry models have undergone a rapid evolution in recent years. Although mainly developed by the air quality modelling community, these models are also of interest for numerical weather prediction and regional climate modelling as they can consider not only the effects of meteorology on air quality, but also the potentially important effects of atmospheric composition on weather. Two ways of online coupling can be distinguished: online integrated and online access coupling. Online integrated models simulate meteorology and chemistry over the same grid in one model using one main time step for integration. Online access models use independent meteorology and chemistry modules that might even have different grids, but exchange meteorology and chemistry data on a regular and frequent basis. This article offers a comprehensive review of the current research status of online coupled meteorology and atmospheric chemistry modelling within Europe. Eighteen regional online coupled models developed or being used in Europe are described and compared. Topics discussed include a survey of processes relevant to the interactions between atmospheric physics, dynamics and composition; a brief overview of existing online mesoscale models and European model developments; an analysis on how feedback processes are treated in these models; numerical issues associated with coupled models; and several case studies and model performance evaluation methods. Finally, this article highlights selected scientific issues and emerging challenges that require proper consideration to improve the reliability and usability of these models for the three scientific communities: air quality, numerical meteorology modelling (including weather prediction) and climate modelling. This review will be of particular interest to model developers and users in all three fields as it presents a synthesis of scientific progress and provides recommendations for future research directions and priorities in the development, application and evaluation of online coupled models.

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Section: A3 Cosmo-muscat Germanymentioning

confidence: 99%

Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects

et al. 2014

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“…The regional chemistryclimate model COSMO-ART (Vogel et al 2009) has also been used in several aerosol-climate studies over Europe including the indirect effect (Vogel et al 2009;Bangert et al 2011), but only for simulations of several days. Similar simulations of several days have also been carried out to investigate absorbing aerosols in the COSMO-MUSCAT version (Meier et al 2012). Fewer studies have carried out multi-annual simulations including aerosols in RCMs over the Euro-Mediterranean region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and semi-direct aerosol radiative effect on the Mediterranean climate variability using a coupled regional climate system model

et al. 2014

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A fully coupled regional climate system model (CNRM-RCSM4) has been used over the Mediterranean region to investigate the direct and semi-direct effects of aerosols, but also their role in the radiation-atmosphereocean interactions through multi-annual ensemble simulations (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)) with and without aerosols and oceanatmosphere coupling. Aerosols have been taken into account in CNRM-RCSM4 through realistic interannual monthly AOD climatologies. An evaluation of the model has been achieved, against various observations for meteorological parameters, and has shown the ability of CNRM-RCSM4 to reproduce the main patterns of the Mediterranean climate despite some biases in sea surface temperature (SST), radiation and cloud cover. The results concerning the aerosol radiative effects show a negative surface forcing on average because of the absorption and scattering of the incident radiation. The SW surface direct effect is on average -20.9 Wm -2 over the Mediterranean Sea, -14.7 Wm -2 over Europe and -19.7 Wm -2 over northern Africa. The LW surface direct effect is weaker as only dust aerosols contribute (?4.8 Wm -2 over northern Africa). This direct effect is partly counterbalanced by a positive semi-direct radiative effect over the Mediterranean Sea (?5.7 Wm -2 on average) and Europe (?5.0 Wm -2 ) due to changes in cloud cover and atmospheric circulation. The total aerosol effect is consequently negative at the surface and responsible for a decrease in land (on average -0.4°C over Europe, and -0.5°C over northern Africa) and sea surface temperature (on average -0.5°C for the Mediterranean SST). In addition, the latent heat loss is shown to be weaker (-11.0 Wm -2 ) in the presence of aerosols, resulting in a decrease in specific humidity in the lower troposphere, and a reduction in cloud cover and precipitation. Simulations also indicate that dust aerosols warm the troposphere by absorbing solar radiation, and prevent radiation from reaching the surface, thus stabilizing the troposphere. The comparison with the model response in atmosphere-only simulations shows that these feedbacks are attenuated if SST cannot be modified by aerosols, highlighting the importance of using coupled regional models over the Mediterranean. Oceanic convection is also strengthened by aerosols, which tends to reinforce the Mediterranean thermohaline circulation. In parallel, two case studies are presented to illustrate positive feedbacks between dust aerosols and regional climate. First, the eastern Mediterranean was subject to high dust aerosol loads in June 2007 which reduce land and sea surface temperature, as well as air-sea humidity fluxes. Because of northern wind over the eastern Mediterranean, drier and cooler air has been consequently advected from the sea to the African continent, reinforcing the direct dust effect over land. On the contrary, during the western European heat wave in June 2006, dust aerosols have contributed to reinforcing an important ridge responsible for dry and 123Cl...

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“…On the other hand, radiation levels and temperature play a major role on gas-phase chemistry through the photolysis of primary and secondary pollutants (see e.g., Katragkou et al, 2010;Forkel et al, 2012;Jiménez-Guerrero et al, 2012;Meier et al, 2012;Colette et al, 2013;Hedegaard et al, 2013; as recent works on the topic), determining also the vegetation activity and thereby modifying natural emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on European aerosol ground levels through local processes: a seasonal model-based assessment using fixed anthropogenic emissions

et al. 2013

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Abstract. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) controls a large amount of the European climate variability with asymmetric impacts in both time and space. Here we investigate how the NAO impact on the local atmospheric processes (disregarding the NAO impact on the large intercontinental transport mechanisms) influences the levels of various aerosol species using simulated data under constant emissions, which are fixed to the 2005 levels in order to avoid anthropogenic-induced signals. In particular, we analyze interannual variations at the seasonal timescale and focus on the ground-level. The results show that positive NAO phases favor increased aerosol concentrations in southern (northern) regions during winter (summer), while negative NAO phases enhance them in northern (southern) regions during winter (summer). The underlying processes are clearly related to the NAO impact on precipitation and wind, as they act to clean the atmosphere through removal and dispersion processes, and to the NAO impact on the radiation balance (i.e., cloudiness) as it affects the biogenic emitting activity and on the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. Differences for all the species studied (natural inert, secondary inorganic and organic aerosols) are up to 5 µg m −3 , reaching 10 and 20 µg m −3 for PM 10 and PM 2.5 respectively, which represents variations of about 20-40 % in their mean levels between opposite NAO phases.

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Direct and semi‐direct radiative effects of absorbing aerosols in Europe: Results from a regional model

Cited by 29 publications

References 15 publications

Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects

Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects

Direct and semi-direct aerosol radiative effect on the Mediterranean climate variability using a coupled regional climate system model

Impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on European aerosol ground levels through local processes: a seasonal model-based assessment using fixed anthropogenic emissions

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