- Main
Aviation fuel tracer simulation: Model intercomparison and implications
- Author(s): 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.
- Kahler, 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
- Karcher, B.
- et al.
Abstract
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 be responsible for the observed water vapor trends at 40°N; 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/m² and −0.013 W/m² due to emitted soot and sulfur, respectively.