Climate-Chemistry Interactions

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2015) | Viewed by 42857

Special Issue Editor

Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Interests: atmospheric chemistry and climate-chemistry interactions, with emphasis on processes describing changes in chemical active greenhouse gases (ozone, methane, CFCs, HCFCs) and secondary particles (sulfate, nitrate organics) and of importance for ozone depletion and atmospheric oxidation and regional air pollution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate–chemistry interaction is currently, and will in the future, be affected by pollutant emissions from different sources. There will also be interaction with emissions from natural sources. Key compounds affecting climate–chemistry interactions are emissions of NOx, CO, VOCs, sulfur dioxide, methane and isoprene. Furthermore, secondary compounds formed and broken down in the atmosphere, such as ozone (O3), the hydroksyl radical (OH), the hydrogen peroksy radical (HO2), hydrogen peroxygen (H2O2), sulfate and organic aerosols, play a role for the oxidation of gases. Oxidation of halogens will affect chemical processes in the stratosphere. Increased NOx emission will have enhanced impact on climate through direct O3 impact. Increased methane emissions will increase the direct climate impact. However, OH is reduced when methane increases, giving less climate impact. The impact of sulfate emissions will lead to cooling of the atmosphere. The impact of CO2, due to methane oxidation with increasing emissions, will give enhanced climate impact. The impact of emission of gases affecting climate will be highly different depending on sources. For instance, the emission of gases from aircraft, ship and land based transport sectors have differing impacts on climate–chemistry interations. Keypoints in studies of future climate–chemistry interactions are the development in gaseous emissions from different natural and anthropogenic sources, and the increases and reductions in climate impact from the different climate gases.

Prof. Dr. Ivar S. A. Isaksen
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

10463 KiB  
Article
The Role of Aerosol-Cloud-Radiation Interactions in Regional Air Quality—A NU-WRF Study over the United States
by Zhining Tao, Hongbin Yu and Mian Chin
Atmosphere 2015, 6(8), 1045-1068; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos6081045 - 30 Jul 2015
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 6284
Abstract
This work assessed the impact of aerosol-cloud-radiation (ACR) interactions on U.S. regional ozone and PM2.5 using the NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting modeling system. A series of three-month simulations have been carried out for the year 2010, in which the factor separation [...] Read more.
This work assessed the impact of aerosol-cloud-radiation (ACR) interactions on U.S. regional ozone and PM2.5 using the NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting modeling system. A series of three-month simulations have been carried out for the year 2010, in which the factor separation method has been applied in order to isolate the contributions from aerosol-radiation (AR), aerosol-cloud (AC), and their synergistic effects. The overall ACR effects were to reduce the average cloud liquid water path by 25 g·m−2 (ca. 40% of the baseline) and to increase the downward shortwave radiation by 8 W·m−2 (ca. 3% of the baseline). The spatial difference in response to ACR was large, with ca. 50 W·m−2, 1 K, and 100 m increases in downward shortwave radiation, surface temperature, and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH), respectively, while ca. 60 g·m−2 decrease in cloud liquid water path in central Texas. The AC effect dominated for changes in downward shortwave radiation, cloud liquid water path, wind, and temperature, while both AC and AR effects contributed profoundly to PBLH change. As a result, surface ozone and PM2.5 changed with large temporal-spatial variations. More than a 10 ppbv of surface ozone and a 5 μg·m−3 of PM2.5 difference induced by ACR occurred frequently in the eastern U.S. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate-Chemistry Interactions)
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5145 KiB  
Article
Impact of Coupled NOx/Aerosol Aircraft Emissions on Ozone Photochemistry and Radiative Forcing
by Giovanni Pitari, Daniela Iachetti, Glauco Di Genova, Natalia De Luca, Ole Amund Søvde, Øivind Hodnebrog, David S. Lee and Ling L. Lim
Atmosphere 2015, 6(6), 751-782; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos6060751 - 02 Jun 2015
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 7653
Abstract
Three global chemistry-transport models (CTM) are used to quantify the radiative forcing (RF) from aviation NOx emissions, and the resultant reductions in RF from coupling NOx to aerosols via heterogeneous chemistry. One of the models calculates the changes due to aviation [...] Read more.
Three global chemistry-transport models (CTM) are used to quantify the radiative forcing (RF) from aviation NOx emissions, and the resultant reductions in RF from coupling NOx to aerosols via heterogeneous chemistry. One of the models calculates the changes due to aviation black carbon (BC) and sulphate aerosols and their direct RF, as well as the BC indirect effect on cirrus cloudiness. The surface area density of sulphate aerosols is then passed to the other models to compare the resulting photochemical perturbations on NOx through heterogeneous chemical reactions. The perturbation on O3 and CH4 (via OH) is finally evaluated, considering both short- and long-term O3 responses. Ozone RF is calculated using the monthly averaged output of the three CTMs in two independent radiative transfer codes. According to the models, column ozone and CH4 lifetime changes due to coupled NOx/aerosol emissions are, on average, +0.56 Dobson Units (DU) and −1.1 months, respectively, for atmospheric conditions and aviation emissions representative of the year 2006, with an RF of +16.4 and −10.2 mW/m2 for O3 and CH4, respectively. Sulphate aerosol induced changes on ozone column and CH4 lifetime account for −0.028 DU and +0.04 months, respectively, with corresponding RFs of −0.63 and +0.36 mW/m2. Soot-cirrus forcing is calculated to be 4.9 mW/m2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate-Chemistry Interactions)
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1442 KiB  
Article
Joint Application of Concentration and δ18O to Investigate the Global Atmospheric CO Budget
by Keyhong Park, Louisa K. Emmons, Zhihui Wang and John E. Mak
Atmosphere 2015, 6(5), 547-578; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos6050547 - 27 Apr 2015
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7683
Abstract
Most previous top-down global carbon monoxide (CO) budget estimates have used only concentration information and shown large differences in individual source estimates. Since CO from certain sources has a specific isotopic signature, coupling the concentration and isotope fraction information can provide a better [...] Read more.
Most previous top-down global carbon monoxide (CO) budget estimates have used only concentration information and shown large differences in individual source estimates. Since CO from certain sources has a specific isotopic signature, coupling the concentration and isotope fraction information can provide a better constraint on CO source strength estimates. We simulate both CO concentration and its oxygen isotopologue C18O in the 3-D global chemical transport model MOZART-4 and compare the results with observations. We then used a Bayesian inversion to calculate the most probable global CO budget. In the analysis, δ18O information is jointly applied with concentration. The joint inversion results should provide more accurate and precise inversion results in comparison with CO-only inversion. Various methods combining the concentration and isotope ratios were tested to maximize the benefit of including isotope information. The joint inversion of CO and δ18O estimated total global CO production at 2951 Tg-CO/yr in 1997, 3084 Tg-CO/yr in 1998, and 2583 Tg-CO/yr in 2004. The updated CO budget improved both the modeled CO and δ18O. The clear improvement shown in the δ18O implies that more accurate source strengths are estimated. Thus, we confirmed that the observation of CO isotopes provide further substantial information for estimating a global CO budget. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate-Chemistry Interactions)
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7310 KiB  
Article
A Modelling Study of the Impact of On-Road Diesel Emissions on Arctic Black Carbon and Solar Radiation Transfer
by Giovanni Pitari, Glauco Di Genova and Natalia De Luca
Atmosphere 2015, 6(3), 318-340; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos6030318 - 12 Mar 2015
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7108
Abstract
Market strategies have greatly incentivized the use of diesel engines for land transportation. These engines are responsible for a large fraction of black carbon (BC) emissions in the extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere, with significant effects on both air quality and global climate. In addition [...] Read more.
Market strategies have greatly incentivized the use of diesel engines for land transportation. These engines are responsible for a large fraction of black carbon (BC) emissions in the extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere, with significant effects on both air quality and global climate. In addition to direct radiative forcing, planetary-scale transport of BC to the Arctic region may significantly impact the surface albedo of this region through wet and dry deposition on ice and snow. A sensitivity study is made with the University of L’Aquila climate-chemistry-aerosol model by eliminating on-road diesel emissions of BC (which represent approximately 50% of BC emissions from land transportation). According to the model and using emission scenarios for the year 2000, this would imply an average change in tropopause direct radiative forcing (RF) of −0.054 W∙m−2 (globally) and −0.074 W∙m−2 over the Arctic region, with a peak of −0.22 W∙m−2 during Arctic springtime months. These RF values increase to −0.064, −0.16 and −0.50 W∙m−2, respectively, when also taking into account the BC snow-albedo forcing. The calculated BC optical thickness decrease (at λ = 0.55 µm) is 0.48 × 10−3 (globally) and 0.74 × 10−3 over the Arctic (i.e., 10.5% and 16.5%, respectively), with a peak of 1.3 × 10−3 during the Arctic springtime. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate-Chemistry Interactions)
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836 KiB  
Article
Atmospheric Ozone and Methane in a Changing Climate
by Ivar S. A. Isaksen, Terje K. Berntsen, Stig B. Dalsøren, Kostas Eleftheratos, Yvan Orsolini, Bjørg Rognerud, Frode Stordal, Ole Amund Søvde, Christos Zerefos and Chris D. Holmes
Atmosphere 2014, 5(3), 518-535; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos5030518 - 29 Jul 2014
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 13486
Abstract
Ozone and methane are chemically active climate-forcing agents affected by climate–chemistry interactions in the atmosphere. Key chemical reactions and processes affecting ozone and methane are presented. It is shown that climate-chemistry interactions have a significant impact on the two compounds. Ozone, which is [...] Read more.
Ozone and methane are chemically active climate-forcing agents affected by climate–chemistry interactions in the atmosphere. Key chemical reactions and processes affecting ozone and methane are presented. It is shown that climate-chemistry interactions have a significant impact on the two compounds. Ozone, which is a secondary compound in the atmosphere, produced and broken down mainly in the troposphere and stratosphre through chemical reactions involving atomic oxygen (O), NOx compounds (NO, NO2), CO, hydrogen radicals (OH, HO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and chlorine (Cl, ClO) and bromine (Br, BrO). Ozone is broken down through changes in the atmospheric distribution of the afore mentioned compounds. Methane is a primary compound emitted from different sources (wetlands, rice production, livestock, mining, oil and gas production and landfills).Methane is broken down by the hydroxyl radical (OH). OH is significantly affected by methane emissions, defined by the feedback factor, currently estimated to be in the range 1.3 to 1.5, and increasing with increasing methane emission. Ozone and methane changes are affected by NOx emissions. While ozone in general increase with increases in NOx emission, methane is reduced, due to increases in OH. Several processes where current and future changes have implications for climate-chemistry interactions are identified. It is also shown that climatic changes through dynamic processes could have significant impact on the atmospheric chemical distribution of ozone and methane, as we can see through the impact of Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO). Modeling studies indicate that increases in ozone could be more pronounced toward the end of this century. Thawing permafrost could lead to important positive feedbacks in the climate system. Large amounts of organic material are stored in the upper layers of the permafrost in the yedoma deposits in Siberia, where 2 to 5% of the deposits could be organic material. During thawing of permafrost, parts of the organic material that is deposited could be converted to methane. Furthermore, methane stored in deposits under shallow waters in the Arctic have the potential to be released in a future warmer climate with enhanced climate impact on methane, ozone and stratospheric water vapor. Studies performed by several groups show that the transport sectors have the potential for significant impacts on climate-chemistry interactions. There are large uncertainties connected to ozone and methane changes from the transport sector, and to methane release and climate impact during permafrost thawing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate-Chemistry Interactions)
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