Stratospheric ozone in 3‐D models: A simple chemistry and the cross‐tropopause flux

Abstract

Two simple and computationally efficient models for simulating stratospheric ozone in three‐dimensional global transport models are presented. The first, linearized ozone (or Linoz), is a first‐order Taylor expansion of stratospheric chemical rates in which the ozone tendency has been linearized about the local ozone mixing ratio, temperature, and the overhead column ozone density. The second, synthetic ozone (or Synoz), is a passive, ozone‐like tracer released into the stratosphere at a rate equivalent to that of the cross‐tropopause ozone flux which, based on measurements and tracer‐tracer correlations, we have calculated to be 475±120 Tg/yr. Linoz and Synoz have been evaluated in the UC Irvine chemical transport model (CTM) with three different archived meteorological fields: the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) version II′, the GISS GCM version II, and merged forecast data from the European Centre forecast model (EC/Oslo). Linoz produced realistic annual, cross‐tropopause fluxes of 421 Tg/yr for the GISS II′ winds and 458 Tg/yr for the EC/Oslo winds; the GISS II winds produced an unrealistic flux of 790 Tg/yr. Linoz and Synoz profiles in the vicinity of the tropopause using the GISS II′ and EC/Oslo winds were found to be in good agreement with observations. We conclude that either approach may be adequate for a CTM focusing on tropospheric chemistry but that Linoz can also be used for calculating ozone fields interactively with the stratospheric circulation in a GCM. A future version of Linoz will allow for evolving background concentrations of key source gases, such as CH 4 and N 2 O, and thus be applicable for long‐term climate simulations.