ALBERT

Description: A new aerosol chemical transport model, the Regional Air Quality Model 2 (RAQM2), was developed to simulate the Asian air quality. We implemented a simple version of a triple-moment modal aerosol dynamics model (MADMS) and achieved a completely dynamic (non-equilibrium) solution of a gas-to-particle mass transfer over a wide range of aerosol diameters from 1 nm to super-μm. To consider a variety of atmospheric aerosol properties, a category approach was utilized in which the aerosols were distributed into four categories: particles in the Aitken mode (ATK), soot-free particles in the accumulation mode (ACM), soot aggregates (AGR), and particles in the coarse mode (COR). The aerosol size distribution in each category is characterized by a single mode. The condensation, evaporation, and Brownian coagulations for each mode were solved dynamically. A regional-scale simulation (Δx = 60 km) was performed for the entire year of 2006 covering the Northeast Asian region. The modeled PM1/bulk ratios of the chemical components were consistent with observations, indicating that the simulated aerosol mixing types were consistent with those in nature. The non–sea-salt SO42− mixed with ATK + ACM was the largest at Hedo in summer, whereas the SOSO42− was substantially mixed with AGR in the cold seasons. Ninety-eight percent of the modeled NO3− was mixed with sea salt at Hedo, whereas 53.7% of the NO3− was mixed with sea salt at Gosan, which is located upwind toward the Asian continent. The condensation of HNO3 onto sea salt particles during transport over the ocean accounts for the difference in the NO3− mixing type at the two sites. Because the aerosol mixing type alters the optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei activity, its accurate prediction and evaluation are indispensable for aerosol-cloud-radiation interaction studies.

Description: We conducted a regional-scale simulation over Northeast Asia for the year 2006 using an aerosol chemical transport model, with time-varying lateral and upper boundary concentrations of gaseous species predicted by a global stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry-climate model. The present one-way nested global-through-regional-scale model is named the Meteorological Research Institute–Passive-tracers Model system for atmospheric Chemistry (MRI-PM/c). We evaluated the model's performance with respect to the major anthropogenic and natural inorganic components, SO42−, NH4+, NO3−, Na+ and Ca2+ in the air, rain and snow measured at the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) stations. Statistical analysis showed that approximately 40–50 % and 70–80 % of simulated concentration and wet deposition of SO42−, NH4+, NO3−and Ca2+ are within factors of 2 and 5 of the observations, respectively. The prediction of the sea-salt originated component Na+ was not successful at near-coastal stations (where the distance from the coast ranged from 150 to 700 m), because the model grid resolution (Δx=60 km) is too coarse to resolve it. The simulated Na+ in precipitation was significantly underestimated by up to a factor of 30.

Description: A new aerosol chemical transport model, Regional Air Quality Model 2 (RAQM2), was developed to simulate Asian air quality. We implemented a simple version of a modal-moment aerosol dynamics model (MADMS) and achieved a completely dynamic (non-equilibrium) solution of a gas-to-particle mass transfer over a wide range of aerosol diameters from 1 nm to super μm. To consider a variety of atmospheric aerosol properties, a category approach was utilized, in which the aerosols were distributed into 4 categories: Aitken mode (ATK), soot-free accumulation mode (ACM), soot aggregates (AGR), and coarse mode (COR). Condensation, evaporation, and Brownian coagulations for each category were solved dynamically. A regional-scale simulation (Δ x = 60 km) was performed for the entire year of 2006 covering the Northeast Asian region. Statistical analyses showed that the model reproduced the regional-scale transport and transformation of the major inorganic anthropogenic and natural air constituents within factors of 2 to 5. The modeled PM1/bulk ratios of the chemical components were consistent with the observations, indicating that the simulations of aerosol mixing types were successful. Non-sea salt SO42- mixed with ATK + ACM was the largest at Hedo in summer, whereas it mixed with AGR was substantial in cold seasons. Ninety-eight percent of the modeled NO3- was mixed with sea salt at Hedo, whereas 53.7% of the NO3- was mixed with sea salt at Gosan, located upwind toward the Asian continent. The condensation of HNO3 onto sea salt particles during transport over the ocean makes the difference in the NO3- mixing type at the two sites. Because the aerosol mixing type alters optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei activity, its accurate prediction and evaluation are indispensable for aerosol-cloud-radiation interaction studies.

Description: We conducted a regional-scale simulation (with grid spacing = 60 km) over Northeast Asia for the entire year of 2006 by using an aerosol chemical transport model, the lateral and upper boundary concentrations of which we predicted with a global stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry-climate model, with a horizontal resolution of T42 (grid spacing ~300 km) and a time resolution of 1 h. The present one-way nested global-through-regional-scale model is called the Meteorological Research Institute – Passive-tracers Model system for atmospheric Chemistry (MRI-PM/c). We evaluated the model performance with respect to the major inorganic components in rain and snow measured by stations of the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET). Through statistical analysis, we show that the model successfully reproduced the regional-scale processes of emission, transport, transformation, and wet deposition of major inorganic species derived from anthropogenic and natural sources, including SO42−, NH4+, NO3−, Na+ and Ca2+. Interestingly, the only exception was Na+ in precipitation at near-coastal stations (where the distance from the coast was from 150 to 700 m), concentrations of which were significantly underestimated by the model, by up to a factor of 30. This result suggested that the contribution of short-lived, super-large sea salt droplets (SLSD; D 〉 10–100 μm) was substantial in precipitation samples at stations near the coast of Japan; thus samples were horizontally representative only within the traveling distances of SLSD (from 1 to 10 km). Nevertheless, the calculated effect of SLSD on precipitation pH was very low, a change of about +0.014 on average, even if the ratio of SLSD to all sea salt in precipitation was assumed to be 90%.