2010: CO, NY & Mexico: Constraints on black carbon aerosol distribution from Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 37, L17801, 5 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2010GL044416
Constraints on black carbon aerosol distribution from Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) CO
Constraints on black carbon aerosol distribution from Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) CO
Avelino F. Arellano Jr.
Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Peter G. Hess
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
D. P. Edwards
Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
D. Baumgardner
Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
We present an approach to constrain simulated atmospheric black carbon (BC) using carbon monoxide (CO) observations. The approach uses: (1) the Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry to simulate the evolution of BC and CO within an ensemble of model simulations; (2) satellite CO retrievals from the MOPITT/Terra instrument to assimilate observed CO into these simulations; (3) the derived sensitivity of BC to CO within these simulations to correct the simulated BC distributions. We demonstrate the performance of this approach through model experiments with and without the BC corrections during the period coinciding with the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-B). Our results show significant improvements (∼50%) in median BC profiles using constraints from MOPITT, based on comparisons with INTEX-B measurements. We find that assimilating MOPITT CO provides considerable impact on simulated BC concentrations, especially over source regions. This approach offers an opportunity to augment our current ability to predict BC distributions.
Received 18 June 2010; accepted 26 July 2010; published 1 September 2010.
Citation: Arellano, A. F., Jr., P. G. Hess, D. P. Edwards, and D. Baumgardner (2010), Constraints on black carbon aerosol distribution from Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) CO, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L17801, doi:10.1029/2010GL044416.
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