Rights statement: Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union
Final published version, 5.43 MB, PDF document
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 8819 |
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 15/11/2003 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
Issue number | D21 |
Volume | 108 |
Number of pages | 35 |
Pages (from-to) | - |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Four global scale and three regional scale chemical transport models are intercompared and evaluated during NASA's Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment. Model simulated and measured CO are statistically analyzed along aircraft flight tracks. Results for the combination of 11 flights show an overall negative bias in simulated CO. Biases are most pronounced during large CO events. Statistical agreements vary greatly among the individual flights. Those flights with the greatest range of CO values tend to be the worst simulated. However, for each given flight, the models generally provide similar relative results. The models exhibit difficulties simulating intense CO plumes. CO error is found to be greatest in the lower troposphere. Convective mass flux is shown to be very important, particularly near emissions source regions. Occasionally meteorological lift associated with excessive model-calculated mass fluxes leads to an overestimation of middle and upper tropospheric mixing ratios. Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) depth is found to play an important role in simulating intense CO plumes. PBL depth is shown to cap plumes, confining heavy pollution to the very lowest levels.