PNNL

Abstract

This paper evaluates the current status of global modeling of the organic aerosol (OA) occurrence in the troposphere and analyzes the differences calculated between models as well as between models and observations. Thirty-one global chemistry/transport and general circulation models have participated in this intercomparison, in the framework of AeroCom phase II. The simulation of OA varies greatly between models in terms of the magnitude of primary emissions, secondary OA (SOA) formation, the number of OA species used (2 to 62), the complexity of OA parameterizations (gas-particle partitioning, chemical aging, multiphase chemistry, aerosol microphysics), and the OA physical, chemical and optical properties. The diversity of the global OA simulation results has increased since earlier AeroCom experiments, mainly due to the increasing complexity of the SOA parameterization in models, and the implementation of new, highly uncertain, OA sources. Diversity of over an order of magnitude exists in the modeled vertical distribution of OA that deserves a dedicated future study. Furthermore, although the OA/OC ratio depends on OA sources and atmospheric processing and is important for model evaluation against OA and OC observations, it is resolved only by few global models. The median global primary OA source strength is 56 Tg a 1 (range 34 - 144 Tg a-1) and the median secondary OA source strength (natural and anthropogenic) is 19 Tg a-1 (range 13-121 Tg a-1). Among the models that take into account the semi-volatile SOA nature, the median source is calculated to be 51 Tg a-1 (range 16-121 Tg a-1), much larger than the median value of the models that calculate SOA in a more simplistic way (19 Tg a-1; range 13-20 Tg a-1, with one model at 37 Tg a-1). The median atmospheric burden of OA is 1.4 Tg (24 models in the range of 0.6-2.0 Tg and 4 between 2.4-3.8 Tg) with a median OA lifetime of 5.4 days (range 3.8-9.6 days). In models that reported both OA and sulfate burdens, the median value of the OA/sulfate burden ratio of is calculated to be 0.77; 13 models calculate a ratio lower than 1, and 9 models higher than 1. For 26 models that reported OA deposition fluxes, the median wet removal is 70 Tg a-1 (range 28-209 Tg a-1), which is on average 85% of the total OA deposition.