Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 9 1 2009 10.5194/acpd-9-2289-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/2289/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/2289/2009/acpd-9-2289-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/2289/2009/acpd-9-2289-2009.pdf 2289 2317 2009-01-26 Impact of convective transport and lightning NO_x production over North America: dependence on cumulus parameterizations C. Zhao chun.zhao@eas.gatech.edu Y. Wang Y. Choi T. Zeng School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA A 3-D regional chemical transport model (REAM) is applied to examine the uncertainties in modeling the effects of convective transport and lightning NO_x production on upper tropospheric chemical tracer distributions. To assess the model uncertainties, two different cumulus convective parameterizations, KF-eta and Grell, are adopted in REAM from the respective meteorological models, WRF and MM5. The model simulations are evaluated using INTEX-NA aircraft measurements and satellite measurements of NO₂ columns and cloud top pressure, and we find that mid and upper tropospheric trace gas concentrations are affected strongly by convection and lightning NO_x productions. A major improvement of the KF-eta scheme is its inclusion of cloud entrainment and detrainment processes. KF-eta scheme simulates larger convective updraft mass fluxes below 150 hPa than the Grell scheme, resulting in more outflow of pollutants in the mid troposphere. The ratio of C₂H₆/C₃H₈ is found to be a sensitive parameter to convective outflow; the simulation by WRF-REAM is in closer agreement with INTEX-NA measurements than MM5-REAM, implying that convective mass fluxes by KF-eta scheme are more realistic. 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