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Cheng, C. T., and K. Suzuki, 2021: Size-resolved aerosol microphysics in a global nonhydrostatic atmospheric model: Model description and validation. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 99, 621-648.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2021-031
Early Online Release   Graphical Abstract Published

Plain Language Summary: Particle size determines the aerosol transport and removal processes, as well as how aerosol interacts with clouds and climate. In this study, we develop a sectional aerosol scheme for Spectral Radiation-Transport Model for Aerosol Species (SPRINTARS-bin) which explicitly simulates the variations in size distributions due to microphysical processes. SPRINTARS-bin is implemented in NICAM (Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model) as an alternative to the original mass-based SPRINTARS-orig aerosol module. Both schemes are evaluated by comparing year-long simulation results to ground-based measurements and satellite observations to find that the sectional scheme with better representations of ultra-fine particles largely alleviates underestimates of the aerosol number concentration in the original scheme.

Highlights:

• NICAM-SPRINTARS-bin demonstrates the long-range transport of ultra-fine particles to high latitudes, as found in surface number concentrations.
• The differences can be explained by the new capability of NICAM-SPRINTARS-bin to resolve microphysical processes that determine the particle concentrations of ultra-fine aerosol particles, in contrast to the prescribed size distributions in NICAM-SPRINTARS-orig.
• The sectional scheme predicts higher Angstrom Exponent and total number concentrations, and better agrees with ground-based measurements in terms of annual averages. Seasonal variations are also reproduced at several sites.