Abstract
The chemical composition dataset of Aerosol Reanalysis of NASA’s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, version 2 (MERRAero) has not been thoroughly evaluated with observation data in mainland China due to the lack of long-term chemical components data. Using the 5-year data of PM10 mass concentrations and chemical compositions obtained from the routine sampling measurements at the World Meteorological Organization the Global Atmosphere Watch Programme regional background stations, Jing Sha (JS) and Lin’An (LA), in central and eastern China, we comprehensively evaluate the surface PM10 concentrations and chemical compositions such as sulfate (SO42−), organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) derived from MERRAero. Overall, the concentrations of PM10, SO42−, OC and BC from the MERRAero agreed well with the measurements, despite a slight and consistent overestimation of BC concentrations and a moderate and persistent underestimation of PM10 concentrations throughout the study period. The MERRAero reanalysis of aerosol compositions performs better during the summertime than wintertime. By considering the nitrate particles in PM10 reconstruction, MERRAero performance can be significantly improved. The unreasonable seasonal variations of PM10 chemical compositions at station LA by MERRAero could be causative factors for the larger MERRAero discrepancies during 2016–2017 than the period of 2011–2013.
Highlights
The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2(MERRA-2), is NASA’s latest reanalysis of the atmospheric environment, with various environmental variables consistently in both temporal and spatial distributions [1]
At LA with the mean bias −33.97 and −1.38 μg m−3 by a factor of 0.64 and 0.88, respectively. [black carbon (BC)], on the other hand, is overestimated by a factor of 1.36 with a discrepancy of 1.12 μg m−3 . [SO4 2− ] is estimated very well with the mean fraction F around 1.00 and has only 0.05 μg m−3 average bias compared to Europe [15]
The PM10 concentrations and chemical compositions at LA and Jing Sha (JS) site are generally better reproduced by the MERRAero than that at Europe [15] based on statistical parameters
Summary
The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2. (MERRA-2), is NASA’s latest reanalysis of the atmospheric environment, with various environmental variables consistently in both temporal and spatial distributions [1]. The. MERRA-2 combined the Goddard Earth Observing System, version 5, Earth system model (GEOS-5) [2,3], three-dimensional variational data assimilation, and Grid point Statistical. “MERRAero” refers to a reanalysis of aerosols in MERRA-2, including bias-corrected aerosol optical depth observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites [6], as well as the Goddard Chemistry-Aerosol-Radiation and Transport model [7,8]. The. MERRAero dataset includes the concentrations of the five aerosol species of dust (DS), Remote Sens.
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