Comparison of three aerosol representations of NHM-Chem (v1.0) for the simulations of air quality and climate-relevant variables.

This study provides comparisons of aerosol representation methods incorporated into a regional-scale nonhydrostatic meteorology-chemistry model (NHM-Chem). Three options for aerosol representations are currently available: the 5-category nonequilibrium (Aitken, soot-free accumulation, soot-containing accumulation, dust, and sea salt), 3-category nonequilibrium (Aitken, accumulation, and coarse), and bulk equilibrium (submicron, dust, and sea salt) methods. The 3-category method is widely used in three-dimensional air quality models. The 5-category method, the standard method of NHM-Chem, is an extensional development of the 3-category method and provides improved predictions of regional climate by implementing separate treatments of light absorber and ice nuclei, namely, soot and dust, from the accumulation and coarse mode categories. The bulk equilibrium method was also developed for operational air quality forecasting with simple aerosol dynamics representations. The total CPU times of the 5-category and 3-category methods were 91 % and 44 % greater than that of the bulk method, respectively. The bulk equilibrium method was shown to be eligible for operational forecast purposes, namely, the surface mass concentrations of air pollutants such as O₃, mineral dust, and PM_2.5. The simulated surface concentrations and depositions of bulk chemical species of the 3-category method were not significantly different from those of the 5-category method. However, the internal mixture assumption of soot/soot-free and dust/sea salt particles in the 3-category method resulted in significant differences in the size distribution and hygroscopicity of the particles. The unrealistic dust/sea salt complete mixture of the 3-category method induced significant errors in the prediction of the mineral dust-containing CCN, which alters heterogeneous ice nucleation in cold rain processes. The overestimation of soot hygroscopicity by the 3-category method induced errors in the BC-containing CCN, BC deposition, and light-absorbing AOT (AAOT). Nevertheless, the difference in AAOT was less pronounced with the 3-category method because the overestimation of the absorption enhancement was compensated by the overestimation of hygroscopic growth and the consequent loss due to in-cloud scavenging. In terms of total properties, such as aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), the results of the 3-category method were acceptable. To evaluate the significance of separate soot and dust treatments in the 5-category method in terms of aerosol-cloud-radiation interaction processes, online simulation with a chemistry-to-meteorology feedback process is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]