Evaluating how photochemistry and transport determine stratospheric inorganic chlorine in coupled chemistry-climate models
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Date
2009-02
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Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
This study examines how the stratospheric conversion of organic molecules containing chlorine (CClᵧ) to inorganic forms (Clᵧ) can be comprehensively evaluated in three-dimensional coupled chemistry-climate models (CCMs) using results from two models (SOCOL and UMETRAC) as examples. Stratospheric inorganic chlorine concentrations depend on both photochemistry and transport. The CCly to Clᵧ conversion process is the first step towards chlorine catalyzed destruction of stratospheric ozone. It is therefore important that models used for the prediction of future stratospheric change accurately simulate this process. Also, because there are multiple processes influencing Cly in CCMs, direct comparison of Clᵧ by itself is of limited use as a validation diagnostic for CCMs. Results show that SOCOL's representation of the photochemical conversion of CClᵧ to Clᵧ is more realistic than UMETRAC's. The CClᵧ to Cly parameterization used in UMETRAC masks transport deficiencies in the model which means that Clᵧ in the polar lower stratosphere from UMETRAC compares better with observations than SOCOL.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
36
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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Subject
stratosphere; photochemistry; transport