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Cited by 35Atmospheric aerosols and cloudsAtmospheric chemistry and aerosolsAtmospheric Ozone and Climate

Description and performance of a sectional aerosol microphysical model in the Community Earth System Model (CESM2)

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Tilmes, Simone, Mills, Michael J., Zhu, Yunqian, Bardeen, Charles G., Vitt, Francis, Yu, Pengfei, Fillmore, David, Liu, Xiaohong +2 more·2023·Geoscientific Model Development
DOI 10.5194/gmd-16-6087-2023

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Abstract

We implemented the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA) in both the high- and low-top model versions of the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2). CARMA is a sectional microphysical model, which we use for aerosol in both the troposphere and stratosphere. CARMA is fully coupled to chemistry, clouds, radiation, and transport routines in CESM2. This development enables the comparison of simulations with a sectional (CARMA) and a modal (MAM4) aerosol microphysical model in the same modeling framework. The new implementation of CARMA has been adopted from previous work, with some additions that align with the current CESM2 Modal Aerosol Model (MAM4) implementation. The main updates include an interactive secondary organic aerosol description in CARMA, using the volatility basis set (VBS) approach, updated wet removal, and the use of transient emissions of aerosols and trace gases. In addition, we implemented an alternative aerosol nucleation scheme in CARMA, which is also used in MAM4. Detailed comparisons of stratospheric aerosol properties after the Mount Pinatubo eruption reveal the importance of prescribing sulfur injections in a larger region rather than in a single column to better represent the observed evolution of aerosols. Both CARMA and MAM4 in CESM2 are able to represent stratospheric and tropospheric aerosol properties reasonably well when compared to observations. Several differences in the performance of the two aerosol models show, in general, an improved representation of aerosols when using the sectional aerosol model in CESM2. These include a better representation of the aerosol size distribution after the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in CARMA compared to MAM4. MAM4 produces on average smaller aerosols and less removal than CARMA, which results in a larger total mass. Both CARMA and MAM4 reproduce the stratospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) within the error bar of the observations between 2001 and 2020, except for recent larger volcanic eruptions that are overestimated by both model configurations. The CARMA background surface area density and aerosol size distribution in the stratosphere and troposphere compare well to observations, with some underestimation of the Aitken-mode size range. MAM4 shows shortcomings in reproducing coarse-mode aerosol distributions in the stratosphere and troposphere. This work outlines additional development needs for CESM2 CARMA to improve the model compared to observations in both the troposphere and stratosphere.

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  • The model includes interactive aerosol processes and detailed representations of tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, allowing assessment of how SAI influences air pollution and associated health risks through coupled changes in atmospheric temperatures, transport, and chemistry.

    “This model includes interactive aerosol processes, whose evolution is simulated through the use of a modal approach (Liu et al., 2016), and a detailed representations of tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry (Emmons et al., 2020; Tilmes et al., 2023), allowing us to assess how SAI influences air pollution and associated health risks through coupled changes in atmospheric temperatures, transport”

    From Air quality impacts of stratospheric aerosol injections are likely small and mainly driven by changes in climate, not aerosol settling (2026) · cites this paper as Tilmes et al., 2023

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  1. Seinfeld, J. H. and Pandis, S. N.: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 9781119221166, 1998.

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Authors
Tilmes, S., Mills, M. J., Zhu, Y., Bardeen, C. G., Vitt, F., Yu, P., Fillmore, D., Liu, X., Toon, B., & Deshler, T.
Affiliations
  • NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
  • Jinan University (CN)
  • Texas A&M University (US)
  • University of Wyoming (US)
Corresponding author
Tilmes, Simone
ORCID
Venue
Geoscientific Model Development
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Published
2023-11-01
Volume
16
Issue
21
Pages
6087-6125
ISSN
  • 1991-959X (ISSN-L)
  • 1991-9603
DOI
10.5194/gmd-16-6087-2023
OpenAlex
W4388183871
Cited by
35
References
101
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 2
FWCI
3.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Geoscientific model development (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Geoscientific Model Development Discussions (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • NOAA Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (03-01-07-001, NA22OAR4310477)
  • National Science Foundation (1852977)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
Keywords
aerosol microphysics, sectional aerosol model, CARMA, CESM2, stratospheric aerosols, Mount Pinatubo eruption, volcanic aerosols, aerosol optical depth, secondary organic aerosol, volatility basis set, aerosol nucleation, wet removal, aerosol size distribution, aerosol emissions, aerosol-climate modeling, model intercomparison

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