Modeling the global bomb-tritium transient signal with the AGCM LMDZ-iso: a method to evaluate aspects of the hydrological cycle


Contact
alexandre.cauquoin [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Improving the representation of the hydrological cycle in atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) is one of the main challenges in modeling the Earth’s climate system. One way to evaluate model performance is to simulate the transport of water isotopes. Among those available, tritium is an extremely valuable tracer, because its content in the different reservoirs involved in the water cycle (stratosphere, troposphere, and ocean) varies by order of magnitude. Previous work incorporated natural tritium into Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom (LMDZ)-iso, a version of the LMDZ general circulation model enhanced by water isotope diagnostics. Here for the first time, the anthropogenic tritium injected by each of the atmospheric nuclear bomb tests between 1945 and 1980 has been first estimated and further implemented in the model; it creates an opportunity to evaluate certain aspects of LDMZ over several decades by following the bomb tritium transient signal through the hydrological cycle. Simulations of tritium in water vapor and precipitation for the period 1950–2008, with both natural and anthropogenic components, are presented in this study. LMDZ-iso satisfactorily reproduces the general shape of the temporal evolution of tritium. However, LMDZ-iso simulates too high a bomb tritium peak followed by too strong a decrease of tritium in precipitation. The too diffusive vertical advection in AGCMs crucially affects the residence time of tritium in the stratosphere. This insight into model performance demonstrates that the implementation of tritium in an AGCM provides a new and valuable test of the modeled atmospheric transport, complementing water stable isotope modeling.



Item Type
Article
Authors
Divisions
Primary Division
Programs
Primary Topic
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
42345
DOI 10.1002/2016JD025484

Cite as
Cauquoin, A. , Jean-Baptiste, P. , Risi, C. , Fourré, É. and Landais, A. , Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique/Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (LMD/IPSL), CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Paris, France, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, UMR 8212, CEA-CNRS-UPS/IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France (2016): Modeling the global bomb-tritium transient signal with the AGCM LMDZ-iso: a method to evaluate aspects of the hydrological cycle , Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121 (21), pp. 12612-12629 . doi: 10.1002/2016JD025484


Download
[thumbnail of cauquoin_bomb-tritium_paper_suppinfo.pdf]
Preview
PDF
cauquoin_bomb-tritium_paper_suppinfo.pdf

Download (1MB) | Preview
Cite this document as:
[thumbnail of cauquoin_bomb-tritium_input_function.zip]
Archive (ZIP)
cauquoin_bomb-tritium_input_function.zip

Download (35kB)
Cite this document as:
[thumbnail of Cauquoin_et_al_2016_JGR-Atm.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Cauquoin_et_al_2016_JGR-Atm.pdf

Download (1MB) | Preview

Share


Citation

Geographical region
N/A

Research Platforms
N/A

Campaigns
N/A


Actions
Edit Item Edit Item