Abstract

Importance of this paper: Often climate calculations are done using a general circulation model without including atmospheric chemical processes. Similarly, atmospheric chemistry calculations are done using models with fixed dynamical processes. In fact there are important couplings and feedbacks between the chemistry and climate in the Earth’s atmosphere. To study such processes, we have incorporated tropospheric hydroxyl radical chemistry into NCARs community climate model (CCM3). The on-line actinic flux calculations couple the thermodynamics of the climate model with the photochemistry of the troposphere. The results of the coupled chemistry-climate calculations for OH concentrations are included in the paper.

Abstract

Importance of this Paper: The tropospheric abundance of carbon monoxide is an important index of the tropospheric oxidizing capacity. Some possible trends for atmospheric CO in the next 100 years have been illustrated using a coupled atmospheric chemistry and climate model driven by emissions predicted by a global economic development model. We have found complicated interactions among emissions, atmospheric chemistry, and climate regarding the distributions and evolution of CO in the atmosphere.