Assessing the Assessment Models for Atmospheric Composition Using Global Chemical Modes

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research will test the validity of IA models for atmospheric composition by comparing global chemical modes in the IA model with those identified in a reference model, i.e., the global 3-D Chemistry-Transport Models available at UC Irvine and Lawrence Livermore National Lab. These chemical modes are the eigenvectors of the linearized continuity equations for the complete set of independent variables and describe the decay of perturbation of the system. They are key diagnostic of the combined influence of multiple systems. This research will explicitly calculate all the chemistry-climate modes of some IA models and compare them with the long-lived modes diagnosed from detailed atmospheric models upon which the IA models are based. This is an objective way of analyzing IA models for long-lived, or even unstable, perturbations to the greenhouse gas-climate system. The work is important because it will identify modes that couple across the biosphere-chemistry-climate system in IA models.