ALBERT

Description: Accelerating the spin-up of the coupled carbon and nitrogen cycle model in CLM4 Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7, 9109-9132, 2014 Author(s): Y. Fang, C. Liu, and L. R. Leung The commonly adopted biogeochemistry spin-up process in earth system model is to run the model for hundreds to thousands of years subject to periodic atmospheric forcing to reach dynamic steady state of the carbon-nitrogen (CN) models. A variety of approaches have been proposed to reduce the computation time of the spin-up process. Significant improvement in computational efficiency has been made recently. However, a long simulation time is still required to reach the common convergence criteria of the coupled carbon/nitrogen model. A gradient projection method was proposed and used to further reduce the computation time after examining the trend of the dominant carbon pools. The Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) with carbon and nitrogen component was used in this study. From point scale simulations we found that the method can reduce the computation time by 20–69% compared to the fastest approach in the literature. We also found that the cyclic stability of total carbon for some cases differs from that of the periodic atmospheric forcing, and some cases even showed instability. Close examination showed that one case has a carbon periodicity much longer than that of the atmospheric forcing due to the annual fire disturbance that is longer than half a year. The rest was caused by the instability of water table calculation in the hydrology model of CLM4. The instability issue is resolved after we replaced the hydrology scheme in CLM4 with a low model for variably saturated porous media.

Description: The commonly adopted biogeochemistry spin-up process in earth system model is to run the model for hundreds to thousands of years subject to periodic atmospheric forcing to reach dynamic steady state of the carbon-nitrogen (CN) models. A variety of approaches have been proposed to reduce the computation time of the spin-up process. Significant improvement in computational efficiency has been made recently. However, a long simulation time is still required to reach the common convergence criteria of the coupled carbon/nitrogen model. A gradient projection method was proposed and used to further reduce the computation time after examining the trend of the dominant carbon pools. The Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) with carbon and nitrogen component was used in this study. From point scale simulations we found that the method can reduce the computation time by 20–69% compared to the fastest approach in the literature. We also found that the cyclic stability of total carbon for some cases differs from that of the periodic atmospheric forcing, and some cases even showed instability. Close examination showed that one case has a carbon periodicity much longer than that of the atmospheric forcing due to the annual fire disturbance that is longer than half a year. The rest was caused by the instability of water table calculation in the hydrology model of CLM4. The instability issue is resolved after we replaced the hydrology scheme in CLM4 with a low model for variably saturated porous media.

Description: Path-integral method for the source apportionment of photochemical pollutants Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7, 9079-9107, 2014 Author(s): A. M. Dunker A new, path-integral method is presented for apportioning the concentrations of pollutants predicted by a photochemical model to emissions from different sources. A novel feature of the method is that it can apportion the difference in a species concentration between two simulations. For example, the anthropogenic ozone increment, which is the difference between a simulation with all emissions present and another simulation with only the background (e.g., biogenic) emissions included, can be allocated to the anthropogenic emission sources. The method is based on an existing, exact mathematical equation. This equation is applied to relate the concentration difference between simulations to line or path integrals of first-order sensitivity coefficients. The sensitivities describe the effects of changing the emissions and are accurately calculated by the decoupled direct method. The path represents a continuous variation of emissions between the two simulations, and each path can be viewed as a separate emission-control strategy. The method does not require auxiliary assumptions, e.g., whether ozone formation is limited by the availability of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) or nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and can be used for all the species predicted by the model. A simplified configuration of the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions is used to evaluate the accuracy of different numerical integration procedures and the dependence of the source contributions on the path. A Gauss–Legendre formula using 3 or 4 points along the path gives good accuracy for apportioning the anthropogenic increments of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and nitric acid. Source contributions to these increments were obtained for paths representing proportional control of all anthropogenic emissions together, control of NO x emissions before VOC emissions, and control of VOC emissions before NO x emissions. There are similarities in the source contributions from the three paths but also differences due to the different chemical regimes resulting from the emission-control strategies.

Description: Modelling the role of fires in the terrestrial carbon balance by incorporating SPITFIRE into the global vegetation model ORCHIDEE – Part 2: Carbon emissions and the role of fires in the global carbon balance Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7, 9017-9062, 2014 Author(s): C. Yue, P. Ciais, P. Cadule, K. Thonicke, and T. T. van Leeuwen Carbon dioxide emissions from wild and anthropogenic fires return the carbon absorbed by plants to the atmosphere, and decrease the sequestration of carbon by land ecosystems. Future climate warming will likely increase the frequency of fire-triggering drought; so that the future terrestrial carbon uptake will depend on how fires respond to altered climate variation. In this study, we modelled the role of fires in the global terrestrial carbon balance for 1901–2012, using the global vegetation model ORCHIDEE equipped with the SPITFIRE model. We conducted two simulations with and without the fire module being activated, with a static land cover. The simulated global fire carbon emissions for 1997–2009 are 2.1 Pg C yr −1 , which is close to the 2.0 Pg C yr −1 as given by the GFED3.1 data. The simulated land carbon uptake after accounting for emissions for 2003–2012 is 3.1Pg C yr −1 , within the uncertainty of the residual carbon sink estimation (2.8 ± 0.8 Pg C yr −1 ). Fires are found to reduce the terrestrial carbon uptake by 0.32 Pg C yr −1 over 1901–2012, that is 20% of the total carbon sink in a world without fire. The fire-induced land sink reduction (SR fire ) is significantly correlated with climate variability, with larger sink reduction occurring in warm and dry years, in particular during El Niño events. Our results suggest a symmetrical "respiration equivalence" by fires. During the ten lowest SR fire years (SR fire = 0.17 Pg C yr −1 ), fires mainly compensate the heterotrophic respiration that would happen if no fires had occurred. By contrast, during the ten highest SR fire fire years (SR fire = 0.49 Pg C yr −1 ), fire emissions exceed their "respiration equivalence" and create a substantial reduction in terrestrial carbon uptake. Our finding has important implication for the future role of fires in the terrestrial carbon balance, because the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon will be diminished by future climate change characterized by increased drought and more severe El Niño events.

Description: On the wind stress formulation over shallow waters in atmospheric models Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7, 9063-9077, 2014 Author(s): P. A. Jiménez and J. Dudhia The wind stress formulation over shallow waters is investigated using year-long observations of the wind profile within the first 100 m of the atmosphere and mesoscale simulations. The model experiments use a range of planetary boundary layer parameterizations in order to quantify the uncertainty related to the turbulent closure assumptions, and thus isolate the dominant influence of the roughness formulation. Results indicate that a positive wind speed bias exists when the common open ocean formulation for roughness is adopted. An alternative formulation consistent with shallow water observations is necessary to reconcile model results with observations, providing the first modeling evidence supporting the increase of surface drag over shallow waters. Including ocean bathymetry as static input data to atmospheric models constitutes an area where further research should be oriented.

Description: A new, path-integral method is presented for apportioning the concentrations of pollutants predicted by a photochemical model to emissions from different sources. A novel feature of the method is that it can apportion the difference in a species concentration between two simulations. For example, the anthropogenic ozone increment, which is the difference between a simulation with all emissions present and another simulation with only the background (e.g., biogenic) emissions included, can be allocated to the anthropogenic emission sources. The method is based on an existing, exact mathematical equation. This equation is applied to relate the concentration difference between simulations to line or path integrals of first-order sensitivity coefficients. The sensitivities describe the effects of changing the emissions and are accurately calculated by the decoupled direct method. The path represents a continuous variation of emissions between the two simulations, and each path can be viewed as a separate emission-control strategy. The method does not require auxiliary assumptions, e.g., whether ozone formation is limited by the availability of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) or nitrogen oxides (NOx), and can be used for all the species predicted by the model. A simplified configuration of the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions is used to evaluate the accuracy of different numerical integration procedures and the dependence of the source contributions on the path. A Gauss–Legendre formula using 3 or 4 points along the path gives good accuracy for apportioning the anthropogenic increments of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and nitric acid. Source contributions to these increments were obtained for paths representing proportional control of all anthropogenic emissions together, control of NOx emissions before VOC emissions, and control of VOC emissions before NOx emissions. There are similarities in the source contributions from the three paths but also differences due to the different chemical regimes resulting from the emission-control strategies.

Description: The wind stress formulation over shallow waters is investigated using year-long observations of the wind profile within the first 100 m of the atmosphere and mesoscale simulations. The model experiments use a range of planetary boundary layer parameterizations in order to quantify the uncertainty related to the turbulent closure assumptions, and thus isolate the dominant influence of the roughness formulation. Results indicate that a positive wind speed bias exists when the common open ocean formulation for roughness is adopted. An alternative formulation consistent with shallow water observations is necessary to reconcile model results with observations, providing the first modeling evidence supporting the increase of surface drag over shallow waters. Including ocean bathymetry as static input data to atmospheric models constitutes an area where further research should be oriented.

Description: Carbon dioxide emissions from wild and anthropogenic fires return the carbon absorbed by plants to the atmosphere, and decrease the sequestration of carbon by land ecosystems. Future climate warming will likely increase the frequency of fire-triggering drought; so that the future terrestrial carbon uptake will depend on how fires respond to altered climate variation. In this study, we modelled the role of fires in the global terrestrial carbon balance for 1901–2012, using the global vegetation model ORCHIDEE equipped with the SPITFIRE model. We conducted two simulations with and without the fire module being activated, with a static land cover. The simulated global fire carbon emissions for 1997–2009 are 2.1 Pg C yr−1, which is close to the 2.0 Pg C yr−1 as given by the GFED3.1 data. The simulated land carbon uptake after accounting for emissions for 2003–2012 is 3.1Pg C yr−1, within the uncertainty of the residual carbon sink estimation (2.8 ± 0.8 Pg C yr−1). Fires are found to reduce the terrestrial carbon uptake by 0.32 Pg C yr−1 over 1901–2012, that is 20% of the total carbon sink in a world without fire. The fire-induced land sink reduction (SRfire) is significantly correlated with climate variability, with larger sink reduction occurring in warm and dry years, in particular during El Niño events. Our results suggest a symmetrical "respiration equivalence" by fires. During the ten lowest SRfire years (SRfire = 0.17 Pg C yr−1), fires mainly compensate the heterotrophic respiration that would happen if no fires had occurred. By contrast, during the ten highest SRfire fire years (SRfire = 0.49 Pg C yr−1), fire emissions exceed their "respiration equivalence" and create a substantial reduction in terrestrial carbon uptake. Our finding has important implication for the future role of fires in the terrestrial carbon balance, because the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon will be diminished by future climate change characterized by increased drought and more severe El Niño events.

Description: Northern Hemisphere storminess in the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM1-M) Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7, 8975-9015, 2014 Author(s): E. M. Knudsen and J. E. Walsh Metrics of storm activity in Northern Hemisphere high- and midlatitudes are evaluated from historical output and future projections by the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM1-M) coupled global climate model. The European Re-Analysis Interim (ERA-Interim) and the Community Climate System Model (CCSM4), a global climate model of the same vintage as NorESM1-M, provide benchmarks for comparison. The focus is on the autumn and early winter (September through December), the period when the ongoing and projected Arctic sea ice retreat is greatest. Storm tracks derived from a vorticity-based algorithm for storm identification are reproduced well by NorESM1-M, although the tracks are somewhat better resolved in the higher-resolution ERA-Interim and CCSM4. The tracks are projected to shift polewards in the future as climate changes under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) forcing scenarios. Cyclones are projected to become generally more intense in the high-latitudes, especially over the Alaskan region, although in some other areas the intensity is projected to decrease. While projected changes in track density are less coherent, there is a general tendency towards less frequent storms in midlatitudes and more frequent storms in high-latitudes, especially the Baffin Bay/Davis Strait region. Autumn precipitation is projected to increase significantly across the entire high-latitudes. Together with the projected increases in storm intensity and sea level and the loss of sea ice, this increase in precipitation implies a greater vulnerability to coastal flooding and erosion, especially in the Alaskan region. The projected changes in storm intensity and precipitation (as well as sea ice and sea level pressure) scale generally linearly with the RCP value of the forcing and with time through the 21st century.

Description: Metrics of storm activity in Northern Hemisphere high- and midlatitudes are evaluated from historical output and future projections by the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM1-M) coupled global climate model. The European Re-Analysis Interim (ERA-Interim) and the Community Climate System Model (CCSM4), a global climate model of the same vintage as NorESM1-M, provide benchmarks for comparison. The focus is on the autumn and early winter (September through December), the period when the ongoing and projected Arctic sea ice retreat is greatest. Storm tracks derived from a vorticity-based algorithm for storm identification are reproduced well by NorESM1-M, although the tracks are somewhat better resolved in the higher-resolution ERA-Interim and CCSM4. The tracks are projected to shift polewards in the future as climate changes under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) forcing scenarios. Cyclones are projected to become generally more intense in the high-latitudes, especially over the Alaskan region, although in some other areas the intensity is projected to decrease. While projected changes in track density are less coherent, there is a general tendency towards less frequent storms in midlatitudes and more frequent storms in high-latitudes, especially the Baffin Bay/Davis Strait region. Autumn precipitation is projected to increase significantly across the entire high-latitudes. Together with the projected increases in storm intensity and sea level and the loss of sea ice, this increase in precipitation implies a greater vulnerability to coastal flooding and erosion, especially in the Alaskan region. The projected changes in storm intensity and precipitation (as well as sea ice and sea level pressure) scale generally linearly with the RCP value of the forcing and with time through the 21st century.