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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres

 

Keywords

  • convection
  • water vapor
  • intercomparison

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Cloud physics and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Cloud/radiation interaction
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry
Abstract
Cited By (13)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 111, D23304, 14 PP., 2006
doi:10.1029/2006JD007325

Testing convective parameterizations with tropical measurements of HNO3, CO, H2O, and O3: Implications for the water vapor budget

Ian Folkins

Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

P. Bernath

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

C. Boone

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

L. J. Donner

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

A. Eldering

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA

Glen Lesins

Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

R. V. Martin

Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

B.-M. Sinnhuber

Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

K. Walker

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

The updraft and downdraft mass flux profiles generated by convective parameterizations differ significantly from each other. Most convective parameterizations are tested against temperature and relative humidity profiles from radiosondes. Chemical tracers provide important additional constraints on the vertical redistribution of mass by convective parameterizations. We compile tropical climatologies of water vapor (H2O), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitric acid (HNO3) from a variety of satellite, aircraft, and balloon-based measurement platforms. These climatologies are compared with the profiles predicted by a variant of the Emanuel convective parameterization, a two-column model of the tropical atmosphere, and by the implementations of the Relaxed Arakawa Schubert (RAS) and Zhang and McFarlane (ZM) parameterizations in a three-dimensional global forecast model. In general, the models with more pronounced convective outflow in the upper troposphere compare more favorably with observations. These models are associated with increased evaporative moistening in the middle and lower troposphere.

Received 21 March 2006; accepted 10 August 2006; published 14 December 2006.

Citation: Folkins, I., P. Bernath, C. Boone, L. J. Donner, A. Eldering, G. Lesins, R. V. Martin, B.-M. Sinnhuber, and K. Walker (2006), Testing convective parameterizations with tropical measurements of HNO3, CO, H2O, and O3: Implications for the water vapor budget, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D23304, doi:10.1029/2006JD007325.

Cited By

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