The vertical distribution of ozone instantaneous radiative forcing from satellite and chemistry climate models

Aghedo, A.M., K. Bowman, H.M. Worden, S.S. Kulawik, D. Shindell, J.F. Lamarque, G. Faluvegi, M. Parrington, D. Jones, and S. Rast (2011), The vertical distribution of ozone instantaneous radiative forcing from satellite and chemistry climate models, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D01305, doi:10.1029/2010JD014243.
Abstract

We evaluate the instantaneous radiative forcing (IRF) of tropospheric ozone predicted by four state‐of‐the‐art global chemistry climate models (AM2‐Chem, CAM‐Chem, ECHAM5‐MOZ, and GISS‐PUCCINI) against ozone distribution observed from the NASA Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) during August 2006. The IRF is computed through the application of an observationally constrained instantaneous radiative forcing kernels (IRFK) to the difference between TES and model‐predicted ozone. The IRFK represent the sensitivity of outgoing longwave radiation to the vertical and spatial distribution of ozone under all‐sky condition. Through this technique, we find total tropospheric IRF biases from −0.4 to + 0.7 W/m2 over large regions within the tropics and midlatitudes, due to ozone differences over the region in the lower and middle troposphere, enhanced by persistent bias in the upper troposphere‐lower stratospheric region. The zonal mean biases also range from −30 to +50 mW/m2 for the models. However, the ensemble mean total tropospheric IRF bias is less than 0.2 W/m2 within the entire troposphere.

PDF of Publication
Download from publisher's website
Research Program
Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP)
Modeling Analysis and Prediction Program (MAP)

 

Disclaimer: This material is being kept online for historical purposes. Though accurate at the time of publication, it is no longer being updated. The page may contain broken links or outdated information, and parts may not function in current web browsers. Visit https://espo.nasa.gov for information about our current projects.