Simulation of ozone production in a complex circulation region using nested grids

International audienceDuring ESCOMPTE precampaign (15 June to 10 July 2000), three days of intensive pollution (IOP0) have been observed and simulated. The comprehensive RAMS model, version 4.3, coupled online with a chemical module including 29 species, has been used to follow the chemistry of the zone polluted over southern France. This online method can be used because the code is paralleled and the SGI 3800 computer is very powerful. Two runs have been performed: run1 with one grid and run2 with two nested grids. The redistribution of simulated chemical species (ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) was compared to aircraft measurements and surface stations. The 2-grid run has given substantially better results than the one-grid run only because the former takes the outer pollutants into account. This online method helps to explain dynamics and to retrieve the chemical species redistribution with a good agreement

Modelling study of the impact of deep convection on the UTLS air composition – Part II: Ozone budget in the TTL avenue de la Recherche Scientifique, 45071 Orléans cedex 2, France

International audienceIn this second part of a series of two papers which aim to study the local impact of deep convection on the chemical composition of the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS), we focus on ozone simulation results using a mesoscale model that includes on-line chemistry. A severe convective system observed on 8 February 2001 at Bauru, Brazil, is studied. We show that there is an increase in the ozone concentration in the tropical transitional layer (TTL) in the model during this event, which is compatible with ozone sonde observations from Bauru during the 2004 convective season. The model horizontal variability of ozone in this layer is comparable with the variability of the ozone sonde observations in the same area. The calculation of the ozone budget in the TTL shows that the ozone behaviour in this layer is mainly driven by dynamics. The upward motions at the bottom of the TTL, related to the convection activity is the main contributor to the budget since it can explain 75% of the total ozone increase in the TTL, while the chemical ozone production inside the TTL is estimated to be 23.5% of the ozone increase if NOx production by lightning (LNOx) is taken into account. It is shown that downward motions at the tropopause induced by gravity waves generated by deep convection are non negligible in the TTL ozone budget, since it represents 11% of the ozone increase. The correlation between the convection activity and the vertical flux at 13 km, the vertical flux at 17 km, and the chemical production is brought to the fore in this simulation

Modelling study of the impact of deep convection on the UTLS air composition – Part 2: Ozone budget in the TTL

International audienceIn this second part of a series of two papers which aim to study the local impact of deep convection on the chemical composition of the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS), we focus on ozone simulation results using a mesoscale model that includes on-line chemistry. A severe convective system observed on 8 February 2001 at Bauru, Brazil, is studied. This unorganised convective system is composed of several convective cells that interact with each other. We show that there is an increase in the ozone concentration in the tropical transitional layer (TTL) in the model during this event, which is compatible with ozone sonde observations from Bauru during the 2004 convective season. The model horizontal variability of ozone in this layer is comparable with the variability of the ozone sonde observations in the same area. The calculation of the ozone budget in the TTL during a 24 h period in the area of the convective system shows that the ozone behaviour in this layer is mainly driven by dynamics. The horizontal flux at a specific time is the main contribution in the budget, since it drives the sign and the magnitude of the total ozone flux. However, when averaged over the 24 h period, the horizontal flux is smaller than the vertical fluxes, and leads to a net decrease of ozone molecule number of 23%. The upward motions at the bottom of the TTL, related to the convection activity is the main contributor to the budget over the 24h period since it can explain 70% of the total ozone increase in the TTL, while the chemical ozone production inside the TTL is estimated to be 29% of the ozone increase, if NOx production by lightning (LNOx) is taken into account. It is shown that downward motion at the tropopause induced by gravity waves generated by deep convection is non negligible in the TTL ozone budget, since it represents 24% of the ozone increase. The flux analysis shows the importance of the vertical contributions during the life time of the convective event (about 8 h). The TTL ozone is driven out of the domain horizontally by the convective outflow during this period, limiting the ozone increase in this layer

Modelling study of the impact of deep convection on the utls air composition - Part I: Analysis of ozone precursors

International audienceThe aim of this work is to study the local impact on the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere air composition of an extreme deep convective system. For this purpose, we performed a simulation of a convective cluster composed of many individual deep convective cells that occurred near Bauru (Brazil). The simulation is performed using the 3-D mesoscale model RAMS coupled on-line with a chemistry model. The comparisons with meteorological measurements show that the model produces meteorological fields generally consistent with the observations. The present paper (part I) is devoted to the analysis of the ozone precursors (CO, NOx and non-methane volatile organic compounds) and HOx in the UTLS. The simulation results show that the distribution of CO with altitude is closely related to the upward convective motions and consecutive outflow at the top of the convective cells leading to a bulge of CO between 7 km altitude and the tropopause (around 17 km altitude). The model results for CO are consistent with satellite-borne measurements at 700 hPa. The simulation also indicates enhanced amounts of NOx up to 2 ppbv in the 7–17 km altitude layer mainly produced by the lightning associated with the intense convective activity. For insoluble non-methane volatile organic compounds, the convective activity tends to significantly increase their amount in the 7–17 km layer by dynamical effects. During daytime in the presence of lightning NOx, this bulge is largely reduced in the upper part of the layer for reactive species (e.g. isoprene, ethene) because of their reactions with OH that is increased on average during daytime. Lightning NOx also impacts on the oxydizing capacity of the upper troposphere by reducing on average HOx, HO2, H2O2 and organic hydroperoxides. During the simulation time, the impact of convection on the air composition of the lower stratosphere is negligible for all ozone precursors although several of the simulated convective cells nearly reach the tropopause. There is no significant transport from the upper troposphere to the lower stratosphere, the isentropic barrier not being crossed by convection. The impact of the increase of ozone precursors and HOx in the upper troposphere on the ozone budget in the LS is discussed in part II of this series of papers

Contrasting behavior of gas and aerosol scavenging in convective rain : a numerical and experimental study in the African equatorial forest

International audienceA two-dimensional convective cloud model has been coupled with a chemical model consisting of the explicit prediction of five chemical species' SO2, SO42-, NH•-, 03, and H202. The model takes the scavenging processes into account. We examine the relationship between the liquid water content (LWC) and the chemical concentrations of atmospheric trace elements in convective precipitation. The model results compare favorably with observations (ABLE 2B and DECAFE experiments). The modeled dilution curves were found to be nonlinear, in agreement with the DECAFE data. The model also accounts for the large differences in dilution effects that exist between gases and aerqsols. More generally, this study shows that within the African equatorial forest there are (1) a reduction of aerosol scavenging efficiency with increasing rain intensity (or LWCg); (2) a strong impact of vertical profiles of atmospheric trace elements on ground rain concentrations; (3) a difference in scavenging efficiencies according to the origin of the elements (gas or aerosol); and (4) a depletion of atmospheric concentrations during rainfall

Sélection statistique du rayon initial optimal dans un modèle unidimensionnel de nuage convectif tropical

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