Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust

Simulating the emission of mineral dust and sea-salt aerosol is nonlinear with surface winds and therefore requires accurate representation of surface winds. Consequently, the resolution of a simulation affects emission and is often corrected with nonphysical scaling in coarse resolution global mode...

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Main Authors: Pierce, J. R., Evans, M. J., Ridley, David Andrew, Heald, Colette L.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89482
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2894-5738
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3890-0197
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author Pierce, J. R.
Evans, M. J.
Ridley, David Andrew
Heald, Colette L.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Pierce, J. R.
Evans, M. J.
Ridley, David Andrew
Heald, Colette L.
author_sort Pierce, J. R.
collection MIT
description Simulating the emission of mineral dust and sea-salt aerosol is nonlinear with surface winds and therefore requires accurate representation of surface winds. Consequently, the resolution of a simulation affects emission and is often corrected with nonphysical scaling in coarse resolution global models. We examine the resolution dependence of emissions in the GEOS-Chem model and find that globally, annual emissions at 4° × 5° resolution are 59% of those simulated at 2° × 2.5° and only 33% of emissions at 0.25° × 0.3125°. The spatial and seasonal distribution of dust emissions vary substantially, indicating that applying a uniform scaling is inappropriate. We demonstrate the benefit of characterizing the subgrid surface wind as a Weibull probability distribution, reconciling much of the difference in emissions between resolutions for dust. Such a representation is shown to have little impact on sea-salt emissions.
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spelling mit-1721.1/894822022-10-01T22:36:05Z Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust Pierce, J. R. Evans, M. J. Ridley, David Andrew Heald, Colette L. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ridley, David Andrew Heald, Colette L. Simulating the emission of mineral dust and sea-salt aerosol is nonlinear with surface winds and therefore requires accurate representation of surface winds. Consequently, the resolution of a simulation affects emission and is often corrected with nonphysical scaling in coarse resolution global models. We examine the resolution dependence of emissions in the GEOS-Chem model and find that globally, annual emissions at 4° × 5° resolution are 59% of those simulated at 2° × 2.5° and only 33% of emissions at 0.25° × 0.3125°. The spatial and seasonal distribution of dust emissions vary substantially, indicating that applying a uniform scaling is inappropriate. We demonstrate the benefit of characterizing the subgrid surface wind as a Weibull probability distribution, reconciling much of the difference in emissions between resolutions for dust. Such a representation is shown to have little impact on sea-salt emissions. 2014-09-12T19:03:04Z 2014-09-12T19:03:04Z 2013-06 2013-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 00948276 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89482 Ridley, D. A., C. L. Heald, J. R. Pierce, and M. J. Evans. “Toward Resolution-Independent Dust Emissions in Global Models: Impacts on the Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Dust.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, no. 11 (June 15, 2013): 2873–2877. © 2013 American Geophysical Union https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2894-5738 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3890-0197 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/grl.50409 Geophysical Research Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) MIT web domain
spellingShingle Pierce, J. R.
Evans, M. J.
Ridley, David Andrew
Heald, Colette L.
Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title_full Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title_fullStr Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title_full_unstemmed Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title_short Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
title_sort toward resolution independent dust emissions in global models impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89482
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2894-5738
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3890-0197
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