ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-12-6953-2012 Aerosol optical depth over the Arctic: a comparison of ECHAM-HAM and TM5 with ground-based, satellite and reanalysis data von Hardenberg J. 1 Vozella L. 1 4 Tomasi C. 2 Vitale V. 2 Lupi A. 2 Mazzola M. 2 van Noije T. P. C. 3 Strunk A. 3 Provenzale A. 1 Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate – CNR, Turin, Italy Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate – CNR, Bologna, Italy Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, de Bilt, The Netherlands now at: Dipartimento di Fisica Generale, Università degli Studi di Torino, Turin, Italy 02 08 2012 12 15 6953 6967 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/6953/2012/acp-12-6953-2012.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/6953/2012/acp-12-6953-2012.pdf

We compare ground-based measurements of aerosol optical depth and Ångström parameter at six Arctic stations in the period 2001–2006 with the results from two global aerosol dynamics and transport models, ECHAM-HAM and TM5. Satellite measurements from MODIS and the MACC reanalysis product are used to examine the spatial distribution and the seasonality of these parameters and to compare them with model results. We find that both models provide a good reproduction of the Ångström parameter but significantly underestimate the observed AOD values. We also explore the effects of changes in emissions, model resolution and the parametrization of wet scavenging.

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