AGS-PRF: Changing Sources of Sea-salt Aerosol in Polar Regions: Climate Change Feedbacks and Implications for Atmospheric Oxidative Capacity in a Future, Warmer World
Sea ice is major source of sea salt aerosols in the Polar Regions that occurs by complex wind driven lofting of saline frost flowers and snow. These processes are complex and neglected in current climate assessments. The observed dramatic retreat of the Arctic sea ice in spring in response to climate change can alter sea salt aerosols fluxes underscoring the need to include them in models. The research will examine this effect using high-resolution coupled climate-chemistry-sea ice models developed by the US and use them to improve IPCC climate assessments.
The project will focus on implementing the open ocean and sea ice sea salt sources in the coupled US climate-sea ice (CESM-CICE4) and 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport model and use it to evaluate the climate and sea salt aerosol feedbacks in polar regions for future climate change scenarios consistent with IPCC AR5 runs. The coupled model will be run at very high resolution (0.5 degree atmosphere and 0.1 degree sea ice) to resolve these processes in detail. In addition to providing the first estimate of the indirect and direct radiative impacts of seas-salt feedbacks the work will also examine the changes in atmospheric chemistry via halogen activation that can alter the oxidative capacity and reactive gases in future climate states.
Hannah Horowitz. AGS-PRF: Changing Sources of Sea-salt Aerosol in Polar Regions: Climate Change Feedbacks and Implications for Atmospheric Oxidative Capacity in a Future, Warmer World. 2017-01-01.