Aviation fuel tracer simulation: Model intercomparison and implications

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 1998-11, Vol.25 (21), p.3947-3950
• Main Authors: Danilin, M. Y., Fahey, D. W., Schumann, U., Prather, M. J., Penner, J. E., Ko, M. K. W., Weisenstein, D. K., Jackman, C. H., Pitari, G., Köhler, I., Sausen, R., Weaver, C. J., Douglass, A. R., Connell, P. S., Kinnison, D. E., Dentener, F. J., Fleming, E. L., Berntsen, T. K., Isaksen, I. S. A., Haywood, J. M., Kärcher, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmospheric composition. Chemical and photochemical reactions; Chemical composition and interactions. Ionic interactions and processes; Earth, ocean, space; Environment Pollution; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Meteorology; Physics of the high neutral atmosphere
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/1998GL900058

An upper limit for aircraft-produced perturbations to aerosols and gaseous exhaust products in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) is derived using the 1992 aviation fuel tracer simulation performed by eleven global atmospheric models. Key findings are that subsonic aircraft emissions: (1) have not been responsible for the observed water vapor trends at 40degN; (2) could be a significant source of soot mass near 12 km, but not at 20 km; (3) might cause a noticeable increase in the background sulfate aerosol surface area and number densities (but not mass density) near the northern mid-latitude tropopause; and (4) could provide a global, annual mean top of the atmosphere radiative forcing up to +0.006 W/sq m and -0.013 W/sq m due to emitted soot and sulfur, respectively.