A chemistry-transport model simulation of middle atmospheric ozone from 1980 to 2019 using coupled chemistry GCM winds and temperatures

International audienceA Global 40-year simulation from 1980 to 2019 was performed with the FinROSE chemistry-transport model based on the use of coupled chemistry GCM-data. The main focus of our analysis is on climatological-scale processes in high latitudes. The resulting trend estimates for the past period (1980?1999) agree well with observation-based trend estimates. The results for the future period (2000?2019) suggest that the extent of seasonal ozone depletion over both northern and southern high-latitudes has likely reached its maximum. Furthermore, while climate change is expected to cool the stratosphere, this cooling is unlikely to accelerate significantly high latitude ozone depletion. However, the recovery of seasonal high latitude ozone losses will not take place during the next 15 years

Effects of forest conservation and management on volume growth, harvested amount of timber, carbon stock, and amount of deadwood in Finnish boreal forests under changing climate

201

Regional risks of wind damage in boreal forests under changing management and climate projections

Weemployed simulations by forest ecosystem (SIMA) and mechanistic wind damage (HWIND) models in upland boreal forests throughout Finland to study regional risks of wind damage under changing management preferences and climates (current and RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios) over 2010–2099. We used a critical wind speed for the uprooting of trees as a measure of vulnerability, which together with the probability of such wind speed defined a level of risk. Based on that, we also predicted the stem volume of growing stock at risk and the amount of damage. In this work, medium fertility sites were planted to one of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), or silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) or to the tree species that was dominant before the final clear-felling. The vulnerability to wind damage, the volume of growing stock at risk, and the amount of damage all increased, increasing the most in the south when the proportion of Norway spruce (with shallow rooting) of the growing stock increased. Under a severe climate warming, the proportion of Norway spruce decreased the most in the south, opposite to that of birch. This decreased the risk of damage in autumn (when birch is leafless), unlike in summer. The low risk of damage in the north was due to the large proportion of Scots pine.201

The regional climate model REMO (v2015) coupled with the 1-D freshwater lake model FLake (v1): Fenno-Scandinavian climate and lakes

The regional climate model REMO was coupled with the FLake lake model to include an interactive treatment of lakes. Using this new version, the Fenno-Scandinavian climate and lake characteristics were studied in a set of 35-year hindcast simulations. Additionally, sensitivity tests related to the parameterization of snow albedo were conducted. Our results show that overall the new model version improves the representation of the Fenno-Scandinavian climate in terms of 2 m temperature and precipitation, but the downside is that an existing wintertime cold bias in the model is enhanced. The lake surface water temperature, ice depth and ice season length were analyzed in detail for 10 Finnish, 4 Swedish and 2 Russian lakes and 1 Estonian lake. The results show that the model can reproduce these characteristics with reasonably high accuracy. The cold bias during winter causes overestimation of ice layer thickness, for example, at several of the studied lakes, but overall the values from the model are realistic and represent the lake physics well in a long-term simulation. We also analyzed the snow depth on ice from 10 Finnish lakes and vertical temperature profiles from 5 Finnish lakes and the model results are realistic

TOMS UV Algorithm: Problems and Enhancements

Satellite instruments provide global maps of surface ultraviolet (UV) irradiance by combining backscattered radiance measurements with radiative transfer models. The models are limited by uncertainties in input parameters of the atmosphere and the surface. We evaluate the effects of possible enhancements of the current Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) surface UV irradiance algorithm focusing on effects of diurnal variation of cloudiness and improved treatment of snow/ice. The emphasis is on comparison between the results of the current (version 1) TOMS UV algorithm and each of the changes proposed. We evaluate different approaches for improved treatment of pixel average cloud attenuation, with and without snow/ice on the ground. In addition to treating clouds based only on the measurements at the local time of the TOMS observations, the results from other satellites and weather assimilation models can be used to estimate attenuation of the incident UV irradiance throughout the day. A new method is proposed to obtain a more realistic treatment of snow covered terrain. The method is based on a statistical relation between UV reflectivity and snow depth. The new method reduced the bias between the TOMS UV estimations and ground-based UV measurements for snow periods. The improved (version 2) algorithm will be applied to re-process the existing TOMS UV data record (since 1978) and to the future satellite sensors (e.g., Quik/TOMS, GOME, OMI on EOS/Aura and Triana/EPIC)

REanalysis of the TROpospheric chemical composition over the past 40 years FIRE ENGINE View project FUELMON -remote FUEL break MONitoring for forest fire protection View project

REanalysis of the TROpospheric chemical composition over thepast 40 years (RETRO)Objectives:• exploit (often under-utilised) existing data sets from ground based stations,aircraft, and satellite instruments, integrating these into common datasets,• develop tools for the analysis, interpretation and exploitation of the data,• formulate recommendations for future measurement strategies,• assess changes in trace compound emissions and their effect on troposphericchemical composition and aerosols, and the associated radiative forcing, overthe past 40 years,• provide an assessment of uncertainties caused by climate variability,• evaluate emission control strategies in Europe,• predict changes over the next 20 years in tropospheric composition, andradiative forcing through model studies using the emission scenarios definedfor the IPCC 2001 climate assessment,• analyze the magnitude of intercontinental pollutant transport.Scientific achievements:• first detailed, comprehensive and consistent data sets on global emissionsfrom fossil and biofuel combustion and from open vegetation burningcovering the time period 1960-2000; available as gridded data sets with0.5°×0.5° and monthly mean resolution,• first global long-term atmospheric chemistry integrations with several stateof-the-art models using the ERA-40 meteorological data, the RETROemissions and other constrains in a consistent and well-documented manner,• analysis of key parameters controlling the interannual and seasonalvariability and the longer-term trends in the tropospheric composition relatedto ozone and its precursors,• development of new software tools for the analysis of observational data andmodel results; standardisation of model output and data formats anddefinition of model evaluation metrics and skill scores,• development of a comprehensive data base for tropospheric compositionobservations with complete metadata definition and a user-friendly interfacefor data access,• multi-model analysis of specific scenarios related to power generation andthe traffic sector in OECD countries,• contributions to the IPCC 4th assessment report through participation in amulti-model assessment study coordinated by the ACCENT network ofexcellenceMain deliverables:• gridded data sets of global emissions from 1960 to 2000 (D1-4)• gridded data sets of simulated concentrations of ozone and ozone precursorsfrom 1960 to 2000 (D4-3)• data base of atmospheric observationsreport on the RETRO emission inventories (D1-6)o report on trend analysis based on observational data (D2-3)o reports on sensitivity studies (D3-2, D3-3 and D3-4)o report on the long-term reanalysis simulations (D4-4)o reports on changes in UV and radiative forcing (D5-1 and D5-2)o analysis of past policy measures including scenario studies (D5-5)All RETRO deliverables are available on the RETRO ftp serverftp://ftp.retro.enes.org/pub or via the RETRO web pages http://retro.enes.org.Socio-economic relevance and policy implications:Understanding past trends in large-scale air pollution is a key requirement toformulate future strategies to enhance air quality in Europe and elsewhere. Due tothe scarcity of observational data (particularly for years before 1990), numericalmodels are the only way to obtain comprehensive and consistent information onpast trends in tropospheric ozone and related substances. The model simulationsin RETRO also allow for evaluating the impact of important parameters on theinterannual variability of air pollution in Europe. From specific sensitivity studiesthe roles of meteorological variability, variability in anthropogenic emissions andvariability in wildland fire emissions could be determined. Scenario calculationson the impact of certain policy measures to reduce emissions from powergeneration or from the traffic sector provide a direct answer to the potentialconsequences of the introduction of more stringent air pollution abatementmeasures. Due to the effects of intercontinental transport of air pollution, localmeasures may not always achieve the expected results. These issues can only beaddressed with comprehensive, well-constrained global model simulations as theywere pioneered in the RETRO project. Several of the tools and methodologiesdeveloped in RETRO are now applied in ongoing projects with a more immediatepolicy link (especially the FP6 integrated project GEMS and the multi-modelassessment activity under the auspices of the task force on hemispheric transportof air pollution).Conclusions:• RETRO contributed significant developments to advance the state-of-the-artin global atmospheric chemistry modelling in terms of new long-termemissions data and the first comprehensive long-term multi-modelintegrations of atmospheric chemistry and transport,• The RETRO models generally show very good consistency in terms ofinterannual variability and trend patterns, but they occasionally differsignificantly in the absolute values of the simulated concentrations of ozoneand its precursors,• Comparison with observations shows that the RETRO models often capturethe atmospheric variability patterns rather well and that the mean modelgenerally provides a reasonable description of the chemical state of theatmosphere. Some exceptions are noted, in particular the absence of anincreasing ozone trend over central Europe in the 1990s which is clearly seenfrom measurements at several mountain stations,• According to the RETRO simulations, summertime boundary layerconcentrations of ozone over Europe increased between 5 and 15 ppb (10-20%) between 1960 and the year 2000. Further abatement measures in thetraffic sector (introduction of the EURO 5 standard in all OECD countries)could lead to a reduction of summertime ozone by 8-10%.• A renewed effort following on the RETRO activities would be highlydesirable in order to further expand the available emission data sets(inclusion of SO2, aerosol precursors and greenhouse gases and review ofnatural emissions), to further investigate the underlying causes fortropospheric composition change and to include the analysis of feedbacksbetween tropospheric ozone, climate change and aerosols.Dissemination of results:• more than 30 articles appeared in peer reviewed scientific journals with director indirect contributions from the RETRO project,• RETRO project results were presented in more than 100 conferencecontributions and presentations at international meetings,• a specific session on “tropospheric trends and variability” was inaugurated atthe EGU General Symposium 2004 and was repeated in 2006 and 2007,• RETRO emission data sets are being used in several ongoing researchprojects (e.g. GEMS and TFHTAP, GREENCYCLES, etc.),• All RETRO data sets and reports are available on the RETRO ftp serverftp://ftp.retro.enes.org/pub or via the RETRO web pages athttp://retro.enes.org