Sensitivity of nitrate aerosols to ammonia emissions and to nitrate chemistry: implications for present and future nitrate optical depth

Paulot, F.; Ginoux, P.; Cooke, W. F.; Donner, L. J.; Fan, S.; Lin, M.-Y.; Mao, J.; Naik, V.; Horowitz, L. W.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1459-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 3

Research article

|

09 Feb 2016

Research article |

| 09 Feb 2016

Sensitivity of nitrate aerosols to ammonia emissions and to nitrate chemistry: implications for present and future nitrate optical depth

F. Paulot, P. Ginoux, W. F. Cooke, L. J. Donner, S. Fan, M.-Y. Lin, J. Mao, V. Naik, and L. W. Horowitz

Download

Final revised paper (published on 09 Feb 2016)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 22 Sep 2015)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC C8472: 'Review of Paulot et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 26 Oct 2015
RC C9687: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 24 Nov 2015
AC C11621: 'Response to the reviewers' comments', Fabien Paulot, 15 Jan 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Anna Wenzel on behalf of the Authors (19 Jan 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (20 Jan 2016) by Barbara Ervens

AR by Fabien Paulot on behalf of the Authors (22 Jan 2016) Author's response

Download

Article (4386 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

We characterize the sensitivity of NO₃ optical depth (OD) to both the sources of its precursors (NH₃ and HNO₃) and to its surface sinks. Uncertainties in the heterogeneous chemistry of HNO₃ and the near-surface volatilization of NH₄NO₃ can cause up to 25 % difference in the global NO₃ OD. Simulated NO₃ OD increases little (< 30 %) in response to changes in emissions (2010 to 2050). Better constraints on the tropical flux of NH₃ into the free troposphere are needed to improve estimates of NO₃ OD.