MLS Research

Observations Needed To Improve Models

Contact Hui Su

Numerical models are the primary tools for weather forecast and climate change predictions. Accurate representation of processes involving water vapor, clouds and atmospheric composition has been a challenging problem in models for years.

Improvements of weather forecast and climate change predictions require extensive evaluation of model simulations by comparison with global satellite observations. The Aura MLS measurements of water vapor, clouds and other tracer gases provide a unique opportunity to evaluate model performance in the upper troposphere (~8-15km altitude) and to improve model parameterizations of key processes such as convection.

MLS-related publications related to model improvement

  1. Ruiz, D. and M. Prather
    From the middle stratosphere to the surface, using nitrous oxide to constrain the stratosphere-troposphere exchange of ozone
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. doi:10.5194/acp-2021-635, in review
  2. Werner, F., N. Livesey, L. Millán, W. Read, M. Schwartz, P. Wagner, W. Daffer, A. Lambert, S. Tolstoff and M. Santee
    Applying machine learning to improve the near-real-time products of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder
    Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions doi:10.5194/egusphere-2023-101, in review
  3. Harvey, V.L., N. Pedatella, E. Becker and C. Randall
    Evaluation of Polar Winter Mesopause Wind in WACCMX+DART
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2022jd037063, 2022
  4. Strahan, S., D. Smale, S. Solomon, G. Taha, M. Damon, S. Steenrod, N. Jones, B. Liley, R. Querel and J. Robinson
    Unexpected Repartitioning of Stratospheric Inorganic Chlorine After the 2020 Australian Wildfires
    Geophys. Res. Lett. doi:10.1029/2022gl098290, 2022
  5. Wohltmann, I., D. Kreyling and R. Lehmann
    Transport parameterization of the Polar SWIFT model version 2
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-15-7243-2022, 2022
  6. Ziv, S.Z., C. Garfinkel, S. Davis and A. Banerjee
    The roles of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation and El Niño for entry stratospheric water vapor in observations and coupled chemistry–ocean CCMI and CMIP6 models
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-22-7523-2022, 2022
  7. Aabaribaoune, M.E., E. Emili and V. Guidard
    Estimation of the error covariance matrix for IASI radiances and its impact on the assimilation of ozone in a chemistry transport model
    Atmospheric Measurement Techniques doi:10.5194/amt-14-2841-2021, 2021
  8. Archer‐Nicholls, S., N.L. Abraham, Y.M. Shin, J. Weber, M.R. Russo, D. Lowe, S.R. Utembe, F.M. O'Connor, B. Kerridge, B. Latter, R. Siddans, M. Jenkin, O. Wild and A.T. Archibald
    The Common Representative Intermediates Mechanism Version 2 in the United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols Model
    Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems doi:10.1029/2020ms002420, 2021
  9. Bossolasco, A., F. Jegou, P. Sellitto, G. Berthet, C. Kloss and B. Legras
    Global modeling studies of composition and decadal trends of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-21-2745-2021, 2021
  10. Dhomse, S., C. Arosio, W. Feng, A. Rozanov, M. Weber and M. Chipperfield
    ML-TOMCAT: machine-learning-based satellite-corrected global stratospheric ozone profile data set from a chemical transport model
    Earth System Science Data 10.5194/essd-13-5711-2021, 2021
  11. Dietmüller, S., H. Garny, R. Eichinger and W. Ball
    Analysis of recent lower-stratospheric ozone trends in chemistry climate models
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-21-6811-2021, 2021
  12. Emili, E. and M.E. Aabaribaoune
    Impact of Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer IASI thermal infrared measurements on global ozone reanalyses
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-14-6291-2021, 2021
  13. Emmert, J.T., D.P. Drob, J.M. Picone, D.E. Siskind, M. Jones, M.G. Mlynczak, P.F. Bernath, X. Chu, E. Doornbos, B. Funke, L.P. Goncharenko, M.E. Hervig, M.J. Schwartz, P.E. Sheese, F. Vargas, B.P. Williams and T. Yuan
    NRLMSIS 2.0: A Whole‐Atmosphere Empirical Model of Temperature and Neutral Species Densities
    Earth and Space Science doi:10.1029/2020ea001321, 2021
  14. Karagodin-Doyennel, A., E. Rozanov, A. Kuchar, W. Ball, P. Arsenovic, E. Remsberg, P. Jöckel, M. Kunze, D. Plummer, A. Stenke, D. Marsh, D. Kinnison and T. Peter
    The response of mesospheric H2O and CO to solar irradiance variability in models and observations
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-21-201-2021, 2021
  15. Karpowicz, B., W. McCarty and K. Wargan
    Investigating the utility of hyperspectral sounders in the 9.6 μm band to improve ozone analyses
    Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. doi:10.1002/qj.4198, 2021
  16. Keeble, J., B. Hassler, A. Banerjee, R. Checa-Garcia, G. Chiodo, S. Davis, V. Eyring, P. Griffiths, O. Morgenstern, P. Nowack, G. Zeng, J. Zhang, G. Bodeker, S. Burrows, P. Cameron-Smith, D. Cugnet, C. Danek, M. Deushi, L. Horowitz, A. Kubin, L. Li, G. Lohmann, M. Michou, M. Mills, P. Nabat, D. Olivié, S. Park, O. Seland, J. Stoll, K. Wieners and T. Wu
    Evaluating stratospheric ozone and water vapour changes in CMIP6 models from 1850 to 2100
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-21-5015-2021, 2021
  17. McCormack, J., V.L. Harvey, C. Randall, N. Pedatella, D. Koshin, K. Sato, L. Coy, S. Watanabe, F. Sassi and L. Holt
    Intercomparison of middle atmospheric meteorological analyses for the Northern Hemisphere winter 2009–2010
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10.5194/acp-21-17577-2021, 2021
  18. Steiner, M., B. Luo, T. Peter, M. Pitts and A. Stenke
    Evaluation of polar stratospheric clouds in the global chemistry–climate model SOCOLv3.1 by comparison with CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-14-935-2021, 2021
  19. Sukhodolov, T., T. Egorova, A. Stenke, W. Ball, C. Brodowsky, G. Chiodo, A. Feinberg, M. Friedel, A. Karagodin-Doyennel, T. Peter, J. Sedlacek, S. Vattioni and E. Rozanov
    Atmosphere–ocean–aerosol–chemistry–climate model SOCOLv4.0: description and evaluation
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-14-5525-2021, 2021
  20. Winkler, H., T. Yamada, Y. Kasai, U. Berger and J. Notholt
    Model simulations of chemical effects of sprites in relation with observed HO2 enhancements over sprite-producing thunderstorms
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-21-7579-2021, 2021
  21. Archibald, A., F. O&ampaposConnor, N. Abraham, S. Archer-Nicholls, M. Chipperfield, M. Dalvi, G. Folberth, F. Dennison, S. Dhomse, P. Griffiths, C. Hardacre, A. Hewitt, R. Hill, C. Johnson, J. Keeble, M. Köhler, O. Morgenstern, J. Mulcahy, C. Ordóñez, R. Pope, S. Rumbold, M. Russo, N. Savage, A. Sellar, M. Stringer, S. Turnock, O. Wild and G. Zeng
    Description and evaluation of the UKCA stratosphere-troposphere chemistry scheme StratTrop vn 1.0 implemented in UKESM1
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-13-1223-2020, 2020
  22. Griffith, M., D. Jackson, D. Griffin and C. Budd
    Stable extension of the unified model into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
    Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate doi:10.1051/swsc/2020018, 2020
  23. Inness, A., S. Chabrillat, J. Flemming, V. Huijnen, B. Langenrock, J. Nicolas, I. Polichtchouk and M. Razinger
    Exceptionally Low Arctic Stratospheric Ozone in Spring 2020 as Seen in the CAMS Reanalysis
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2020jd033563, 2020
  24. Itahashi, S., R. Mathur, C. Hogrefe and Y. Zhang
    Modeling stratospheric intrusion and trans-Pacific transport on tropospheric ozone using hemispheric CMAQ during April 2010 -- Part 1: Model evaluation and air mass characterization for stratosphere-troposphere transport
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-20-3373-2020, 2020
  25. Koshin, D., K. Sato, K. Miyazaki and S. Watanabe
    An ensemble Kalman filter data assimilation system for the whole neutral atmosphere
    Geoscientific Model Development doi:10.5194/gmd-13-3145-2020, 2020
  26. Kuai, L., K. Bowman, K. Miyazaki, M. Deushi, L. Revell, E. Rozanov, F. Paulot, S. Strode, A. Conley, J. Lamarque, P. Jöckel, D. Plummer, L. Oman, H. Worden, S. Kulawik, D. Paynter, A. Stenke and M. Kunze
    Attribution of Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative CCMI ozone radiative flux bias from satellites
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-20-281-2020, 2020
  27. Miyazaki, K., K. Bowman, K. Yumimoto, T. Walker and K. Sudo
    Evaluation of a multi-model, multi-constituent assimilation framework for tropospheric chemical reanalysis
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-20-931-2020, 2020
  28. Orbe, C., D. Rind, J. Jonas, L. Nazarenko, G. Faluvegi, L. Murray, D. Shindell, K. Tsigaridis, T. Zhou, M. Kelley and G. Schmidt
    GISS Model E2.2: A Climate Model Optimized for the Middle Atmosphere—2. Validation of Large‐Scale Transport and Evaluation of Climate Response
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2020jd033151, 2020
  29. Orbe, C., K. Wargan, S. Pawson and L. Oman
    Mechanisms Linked to Recent Ozone Decreases in the Northern Hemisphere Lower Stratosphere
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2019jd031631, 2020
  30. Simmons, A., C. Soci, J. Nicolas, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, R. Dragani, J. Flemming, L. Haimberger, S. Healy, H. Hersbach, A. Horanyi, A. Inness, J. Munoz-Sabater, R. Radu and D. Schepers
    Global stratospheric temperature bias and other stratospheric aspects of ERA5 and ERA5.1
    ECMWF Technical Memo doi:10.21957/rcxqfmg0, 2020
  31. Wang, Z., N. Hase, J. Notholt, B. Dils, M. Saunois, T. Warneke and W. Tian
    Diagnosing Mixing Properties in Model Simulations for CH4 in the Stratosphere
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2020jd032524, 2020
  32. Ball, W., J. Alsing, J. Staehelin, S. Davis, L. Froidevaux and T. Peter
    Stratospheric ozone trends for 1985–2018: sensitivity to recent large variability
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-12731-2019, 2019
  33. Diniz, F. and R. Todling
    Assessing the impact of observations in a multi‐year reanalysis
    Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 10.1002/qj.3705, 2019
  34. Emili, E., B. Barret, E.L. Flochmoën and D. Cariolle
    Comparison between the assimilation of IASI Level 2 ozone retrievals and Level 1 radiances in a chemical transport model
    Atmospheric Measurement Techniques doi:10.5194/amt-12-3963-2019, 2019
  35. Errera, Q., S. Chabrillat, Y. Christophe, J. Debosscher, D. Hubert, W. Lahoz, M. Santee, M. Shiotani, S. Skachko, T. von Clarmann and K. Walker
    Technical note: Reanalysis of Aura MLS chemical observations
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-13647-2019, 2019
  36. Froidevaux, L., D. Kinnison, R. Wang, J. Anderson and R. Fuller
    Evaluation of CESM1 WACCM free-running and specified dynamics atmospheric composition simulations using global multispecies satellite data records
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-4783-2019, 2019
  37. Gettelman, A., M.J. Mills, D.E. Kinnison, R.R. Garcia, A.K. Smith, D.R. Marsh, S. Tilmes, F. Vitt, C.G. Bardeen, J. McInerney, H.L. Liu, S.C. Solomon, L.M. Polvani, L.K. Emmons, J.F. Lamarque, J.H. Richter, A.S. Glanville, J.T. Bacmeister, A.S. Phillips, R.B. Neale, I.R. Simpson, A.K. DuVivier, A. Hodzic and W.J. Randel
    The Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model Version 6 WACCM6
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2019jd030943, 2019
  38. Han, Y., W. Tian, M. Chipperfield, J. Zhang, F. Wang, W. Sang, J. Luo, W. Feng, A. Chrysanthou and H. Tian
    Attribution of the Hemispheric Asymmetries in Trends of Stratospheric Trace Gases Inferred from Microwave Limb Sounder MLS Measurements
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2018jd029723, 2019
  39. Inness, A., M. Ades, A. Agustí-Panareda, J. Barré, A. Benedictow, A. Blechschmidt, J. Dominguez, R. Engelen, H. Eskes, J. Flemming, V. Huijnen, L. Jones, Z. Kipling, S. Massart, M. Parrington, V. Peuch, M. Razinger, S. Remy, M. Schulz and M. Suttie
    The CAMS reanalysis of atmospheric composition
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-3515-2019, 2019
  40. Johansson, S., M. Santee, J. Grooß, M. Höpfner, M. Braun, F. Friedl-Vallon, F. Khosrawi, O. Kirner, E. Kretschmer, H. Oelhaf, J. Orphal, B. Sinnhuber, I. Tritscher, J. Ungermann, K. Walker and W. Woiwode
    Unusual chlorine partitioning in the 2015/16 Arctic winter lowermost stratosphere: observations and simulations
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-8311-2019, 2019
  41. Krizan, P., M. Kozubek and J. Lastovicka
    Discontinuities in the Ozone Concentration Time Series from MERRA 2 Reanalysis
    Atmosphere doi:10.3390/atmos10120812, 2019
  42. Larsson, R., B. Lankhaar and P. Eriksson
    Updated Zeeman effect splitting coefficients for molecular oxygen in planetary applications
    J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.12.004, 2019
  43. Stanfield, R., H. Su, J. Jiang, S. Freitas, A. Molod, Z. Luo, L. Huang and M. Luo
    Convective Entrainment Rates Estimated From Aura CO and CloudSat/CALIPSO Observations and Comparison With GEOS‐5
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres doi:10.1029/2019jd030846, 2019
  44. Wang, X., A. Dessler, M. Schoeberl, W. Yu and T. Wang
    Impact of convectively lofted ice on the seasonal cycle of water vapor in the tropical tropopause layer
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-19-14621-2019, 2019
  45. Cámara, A.D.l., M. Abalos, P. Hitchcock, N. Calvo and R. Garcia
    Response of Arctic ozone to sudden stratospheric warmings
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10.5194/acp-18-16499-2018, 2018
  46. Dietmüller, S., R. Eichinger, H. Garny, T. Birner, H. Boenisch, G. Pitari, E. Mancini, D. Visioni, A. Stenke, L. Revell, E. Rozanov, D. Plummer, J. Scinocca, P. Jöckel, L. Oman, M. Deushi, S. Kiyotaka, D. Kinnison, R. Garcia, O. Morgenstern, G. Zeng, K. Stone and R. Schofield
    Quantifying the effect of mixing on the mean age of air in CCMVal-2 and CCMI-1 models
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-18-6699-2018, 2018
  47. Hassler, B., S. Kremser, G. Bodeker, J. Lewis, K. Nesbit, S. Davis, M. Chipperfield, S. Dhomse and M. Dameris
    An updated version of a gap-free monthly mean zonal mean ozone database
    Earth System Science Data doi:10.5194/essd-10-1473-2018, 2018
  48. Hogan, R. and A. Bozzo
    A Flexible and Efficient Radiation Scheme for the ECMWF Model
    Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 10.1029/2018ms001364, 2018
  49. Kulikov, M., A. Nechaev, M. Belikovich, T. Ermakova and A. Feigin
    Technical note: Evaluation of the simultaneous measurements of mesospheric OH, HO2, and O3 under a photochemical equilibrium assumption - a statistical approach
    Atmos. Chem. Phys. doi:10.5194/acp-18-7453-2018, 2018
  50. Pan, B., Y. Wang, J. Hu, Y. Lin, J.S. Hsieh, T. Logan, X. Feng, J.H. Jiang, Y.L. Yung and R. Zhang
    Impacts of Saharan Dust on Atlantic Regional Climate and Implications for Tropical Cyclones
    J. Climate 2018