Feng, Yan, Argonne National Laboratory, and V. Rao
Kotamarthi, Argonne National Laboratory
The Ganges Valley region
in northern India has been observed to have high aerosol and ozone
concentrations. During the pre-monsoon season and during the monsoon season,
trace gases and aerosols can be elevated by strong convection to the mid- and
upper troposphere. These pollutants could have a significant impact on regional
climate. It has also been hypothesized that the build-up of aerosols in the dry
winter may affect the onset and intensity of the summer monsoon. The Ganges Valley Aerosol eXperiment
(GVAX) conducted a 9-month observation at Nainital, India, from July 2011 to
March 2012, using the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation
Monitoring (ARM) mobile facility.
Measurements of ozone, aerosol concentration, vertical profiles, cloud
liquid water path and convection were made.
The focus of the present
study is to examine concentration and vertical distribution of aerosol and
ozone during the monsoon to post-monsoon months (July to December). We will
present the WRF-Chem simulations over the Indian subcontinent, and test two deep
convection schemes implemented in the WRF-Chem (Grell vs Zhang-McFarlane) on
the vertical transport of tracers. We will also present preliminary evaluation
of aerosol vertical transport using the ground-based profiling of aerosol
extinction, cloud liquid water, water vapor, and temperature at Nainital.