Abstract
AbstractWe investigate regional sources contributing to CO during the Korea United States Air Quality (KORUS‐AQ) campaign conducted over Korea (1 May to 10 June 2016) using 17 tagged CO simulations from the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM‐chem). The simulations use three spatial resolutions, three anthropogenic emission inventories, two meteorological fields, and nine emission scenarios. These simulations are evaluated against measurements from the DC‐8 aircraft and Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT). Results show that simulations using bottom‐up emissions are consistently lower (bias: −34 to −39%) and poorer performing (Taylor skill: 0.38–0.61) than simulations using alternative anthropogenic emissions (bias: −6 to −33%; Taylor skill: 0.48–0.86), particularly for enhanced Asian CO and volatile organic compound (VOC) emission scenarios, suggesting underestimation in modeled CO background and emissions in the region. The ranges of source contributions to modeled CO along DC‐8 aircraft from Korea and southern (90°E to 123°E, 20°N to 29°N), middle (90°E to 123°E, 29°N to 38.5°N), and northern (90°E to 131.5°E, 38.5°N to 45°N) East Asia (EA) are 6–13%, ~5%, 16–28%, and 9–18%, respectively. CO emissions from middle and northern EA can reach Korea via transport within the boundary layer, whereas those from southern EA are transported to Korea mainly through the free troposphere. Emission contributions from middle EA dominate during continental outflow events (29–51%), while Korean emissions play an overall more important role for ground sites (up to 25–49%) and plumes within the boundary layer (up to 25–44%) in Korea. Finally, comparisons with four other source contribution approaches (FLEXPART 9.1 back trajectory calculations driven by Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) WRF inert tracer, China signature VOCs, and CO to CO2 enhancement ratios) show general consistency with CAM‐chem.
Highlights
Air pollutants and emissions have significant impacts on environment, climate, ecosystem, agriculture, public health, and safety (Charlson et al, 1992; Doney et al, 2007; Feely et al, 2004; Gao et al, 2017; Maher et al, 2016; Ohara et al, 2007; Shindell et al, 2011)
We investigate regional sources contributing to CO during the Korea United States Air Quality (KORUS‐AQ) campaign conducted over Korea (1 May to 10 June 2016) using 17 tagged CO simulations from the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM‐chem)
We first conducted a set of model sensitivity test simulations by varying emissions, meteorology, and resolution and comprehensively evaluated these CO simulations by comparing with DC‐8 aircraft measurements and Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) retrievals
Summary
Air pollutants and emissions have significant impacts on environment, climate, ecosystem, agriculture, public health, and safety (Charlson et al, 1992; Doney et al, 2007; Feely et al, 2004; Gao et al, 2017; Maher et al, 2016; Ohara et al, 2007; Shindell et al, 2011). Previous studies have shown that anthropogenic combustion and emissions in East Asia have impacts at both local and hemispheric scales, including long‐range transport to North America (Heald et al, 2006; Jacob et al, 1999; Jaffe et al, 1999; Jiang et al, 2016). This highlights an urgent need to better understand emissions and air quality. Our goal in this study is to elucidate the regional sources contributing to observed CO concentrations within the troposphere over Korea during the KORUS‐AQ campaign using the tagged CO algorithm that is implemented in the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM‐chem).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
