A sensitivity analysis of key natural factors in the modeled global acetone budget

Abstract

AbstractAcetone is one of the most abundant carbonyl compounds in the atmosphere, and it serves as an important source of HOx (OH + HO2) radicals in the upper troposphere and a precursor for peroxyacetyl nitrate. We present a global sensitivity analysis targeted at several major natural source and sink terms in the global acetone budget to find the input factor or factors to which the simulated acetone mixing ratio was most sensitive. The ranges of input factors were taken from literature. We calculated the influence of these factors in terms of their elementary effects on model output. Of the six factors tested here, the four factors with the highest contribution to total global annual model sensitivity are direct emissions of acetone from the terrestrial biosphere, acetone loss to photolysis, the concentration of acetone in the ocean mixed layer, and the dry deposition of acetone to ice‐free land. The direct emissions of acetone from the terrestrial biosphere are globally important in determining acetone mixing ratios, but their importance varies seasonally outside the tropics. Photolysis is most influential in the upper troposphere. Additionally, the influence of the oceanic mixed layer concentrations are relatively invariant between seasons, compared to the other factors tested. Monoterpene oxidation in the troposphere, despite the significant uncertainties in acetone yield in this process, is responsible for only a small amount of model uncertainty in the budget analysis.