Stratospheric aerosol injection could mitigate harmful effects of global warming, but could have undesirable side effects, such as warming the stratosphere and depleting the ozone layer. We explore the potential benefits of solid alumina and calcite particles as alternatives to sulfate aerosols by using an experimentally informed aerosol-chemistry-climate model. Compared to sulfur dioxide, injection of solids reduces stratospheric warming by up to 70% and diffuse radiation by up to 40%, highlighting their potential benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReductions in sulfur (S) atmospheric deposition in recent decades have been attributed to S deficiencies in crops. Similarly, global soil selenium (Se) concentrations were predicted to drop, particularly in Europe, due to increases in leaching attributed to increases in aridity. Given its international importance in agriculture, reductions of essential elements, including S and Se, in European soils could have important impacts on nutrition and human health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn accurate quantification of the stratospheric ozone feedback in climate change simulations requires knowledge of the ozone response to increased greenhouse gases. Here, we present an analysis of the ozone layer response to an abrupt quadrupling of CO concentrations in four chemistry-climate models. We show that increased CO levels lead to a decrease in ozone concentrations in the tropical lower stratosphere, and an increase over the high latitudes and throughout the upper stratosphere.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelenium (Se) is an essential dietary element for humans and animals, and the atmosphere is an important source of Se to soils. However, estimates of global atmospheric Se fluxes are highly uncertain. To constrain these uncertainties, we use a global model of atmospheric Se cycling and a database of more than 600 sites where Se in aerosol has been measured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have derived values of the Ultraviolet Index (UVI) at solar noon using the Tropospheric Ultraviolet Model (TUV) driven by ozone, temperature and aerosol fields from climate simulations of the first phase of the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI-1). Since clouds remain one of the largest uncertainties in climate projections, we simulated only the clear-sky UVI. We compared the modelled UVI climatologies against present-day climatological values of UVI derived from both satellite data (the OMI-Aura OMUVBd product) and ground-based measurements (from the NDACC network).
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