Smoke from biomass burning simulated inadequately in climate models

Modelled smoke clouds were compared to 14 different satellite products over the most significant fire regions. The comparison showed that the modelled results differed from the observations in many different ways.

The main sources of differences in the models were different fire emissions, particle life and radiation attenuation capability. With regard to fire emissions, it was found that the modelled fire particles were typically smaller than in reality. The simulated lifetimes of particles were also shorter than observed, as smoke clouds in the models were lower than in reality, and differences in the simulated clouds and precipitation caused differences between model results and observations.

The results of the study highlight the importance of smoke particle imaging in climate modelling.

Further information:

Group Leader Harri Kokkola, Finnish Meteorological Institute, tel. +358 29 539 2148, harri.kokkola@fmi.fi

Senior Scientist Tero Mielonen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, tel. 050 401 8738, tero.mielonen@fmi.fi

Scientific articles are available on Nature Communications and Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Reference:

Zhong, Q., Schutgens, N., van der Werf, G., van Noije, T., Tsigaridis, K., Bauer, S. E., Mielonen, T., Kirkevåg, A., Seland, Ø., Kokkola, H., Checa-Garcia, R., Neubauer, D., Kipling, Z., Matsui, H., Ginoux, P., Takemura, T., Le Sager, P., Rémy, S., Bian, H., Chin, M., Zhang, K., Zhu, J., Tsyro, S. G., Curci, G., Protonotariou, A., Johnson, B., Penner, J. E., Bellouin, N., Skeie, R. B., and Myhre, G.: Satellite-based evaluation of AeroCom model bias in biomass burning regions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11009–11032, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11009-2022, 2022.

Zhong, Q., Schutgens, N., van der Werf, G.R. et al. Using modelled relationships and satellite observations to attribute modelled aerosol biases over biomass burning regions. Nat Commun 13, 5914 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33680-4