Identification

Title

A set of diagnostics for evaluating chemistry-climate models in the extratropical tropopause region

Abstract

Three related diagnostics are used to evaluate the representation of chemical transport processes in the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) by chemistry-transport and chemistry-climate models. The diagnostics are based on in situ observations of ozone, carbon monoxide, water vapor profiles (obtained on board the NASA ER-2 research aircraft, near 65°N and during 1997), and their interrelationships in the UTLS. The first diagnostic compares the observed and modeled UTLS trace gas profiles in a relative altitude coordinate. The second one compares the observed and modeled UTLS tracer relationships. The third one compares the observed and modeled thickness of the tropopause transition layer. Together, they characterize the model's ability to reproduce the observed chemical distribution in the UTLS region and chemical transition across the extratropical tropopause. These are key indicators of whether the contributions of dynamics and chemistry to this region are correctly represented in the models. These diagnostics are used to evaluate the performance of an NCAR chemistry-transport model (CTM), MOZART-3, and a chemistry-climate model (CCM), WACCM3. Results from four model runs with different meteorological fields and grid resolution are examined. Overall, the NCAR models show qualitative agreement with the observations in the location of the chemical transition across the extratropical tropopause. Quantitatively, there are significant differences between the modeled and the observed chemical distributions. Both the meteorological field and grid resolutions are contributing factors to the differences.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d72n52hr

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2007-05-15T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact