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Modeling and Evaluation of the Global Sea-Salt Aerosol Distribution: Sensitivity to Emission Schemes and Resolution Effects at Coastal/Orographic SitesOne of the major sources of uncertainty in model estimates of the global sea-salt aerosol distribution is the emission parameterization. We evaluate a new sea-salt aerosol life cycle module coupled to the online multi-scale chemical transport model NMMB/BSC-CTM. We compare 5 year global simulations using five state-of-the-art sea-salt open-ocean emission schemes with monthly averaged coarse aerosol optical depth (AOD) from selected AERONET sun photometers, surface concentration measurements from the University of Miami's Ocean Aerosol Network, and measurements from two NOAA/PMEL cruises (AEROINDOEX and ACE1). Model results are highly sensitive to the introduction of sea-surface-temperature (SST)-dependent emissions and to the accounting of spume particles production. Emission ranges from 3888 teragrams per year to 8114 teragrams per year, lifetime varies between 7.3 hours and 11.3 hours, and the average column mass load is between 5.0 teragrams and 7.2 teragrams. Coarse AOD is reproduced with an overall correlation of around 0.5 and with normalized biases ranging from +8.8 percent to +38.8 percent. Surface concentration is simulated with normalized biases ranging from minus 9.5 percent to plus 28 percent and the overall correlation is around 0.5. Our results indicate that SST-dependent emission schemes improve the overall model performance in reproducing surface concentrations. On the other hand, they lead to an overestimation of the coarse AOD at tropical latitudes, although it may be affected by uncertainties in the comparison due to the use of all-sky model AOD, the treatment of water uptake, deposition and optical properties in the model and/or an inaccurate size distribution at emission.
Document ID
20150019487
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
doi:10.5194/acp-13-11735-2013
Authors
Spada, M. (Barcelona Supercomputing Center Barcelona, Spain)
Jorba, O. (Barcelona Supercomputing Center Barcelona, Spain)
Perez Garcia-Pando, C. (Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Janjic, Z. (National Centers for Environmental Prediction College Park, MD, United States)
Baldasano, J. M. (Barcelona Supercomputing Center Barcelona, Spain)
Date Acquired
October 20, 2015
Publication Date
December 4, 2013
Publication Information
Publication: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Publisher: Copernicus
Volume: 13
Issue: 23
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Oceanography
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN24489
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AB99A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Bias
Parameterization
Aerosols

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