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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Key drivers of Western U.S. surface O 3 variability over recent decades: Stratospheric intrusions, Asian pollution, and climate Meiyun Lin Presented at Air Quality Research Subcommittee Meeting, Feb-19-2015 Acknowledgements: NOAA: L.W. Horowitz, O.R. Cooper, A.O. Langford, S. J. Oltmans, CalNex Science Team Others: A.M. Fiore and H. Rieder (Columbia), D. Tarasick (Environment Canada) Zheng Li (Nevada Clark County DAQ)

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Major challenges for Western U.S. air quality managements 2 MAJOR CHALLENGES: -Rising Asian emissions and global CH 4 [e.g. Jacob et al. 1999; Cooper et al. 2010; Clifton et al. 2014] -More frequent wildfires in summer [e.g. Westerling et al. 2006; Pfister et al. 2008; Jaffe 2011] -Frequency of stratospheric intrusions in spring [e.g. Langford et al., 2009; Lin et al., 2012b] NEED PROCESS-LEVEL UNDERSTANDING ON DAILY TO MULTI-DECADAL TIME SCALES Annual 4 th Hi MDA8 O 3 (2011-2013 AQS) Mean background, Apr-Jun NA anthrop emis off in GFDL AM3 (~0.5x0.5) Future NAAQS? Current NAAQS ppb

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Trans-Pacific Asian pollution plumes: The view from satellites Animation of daily AIRS CO columns [10 18 molecules cm -2 ] Lin MY et al. (JGR, 2012a): AGU Editors Highlight, Featured in Science, Nature News, NY Times Greenblog) How important is Asian influence in surface air?

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ObservedAM3 Model totalModel Asian June 21 2010 June 22 2010 Asian emissions contribute 8-12 ppb on days when OBS O 3 65 ppb (future NAAQS) Role of tripling NO x emissions from E. China over recent decades? Asian pollution contribution to WUS high-O 3 events Surface MDA8 O 3 [ppb]

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory GFDL-AM3 BASE (with both emis & met varying over time) Long-term U.S. surface ozone trends: Did regional NO x reductions work? Observed MDA8 O 3 trends (ppb yr -1 ) 95 th 50 th Larger circles indicate statistically significant trends MAM 1988-2012 NASA Project PIs (M.Y. Lin and O.R. Cooper) WUS: High background, thus little response to local NO x reductions AM3 BASE captures key features of observed surface O 3 trends

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Subsidence of stratospheric O 3 to the lower trop of S. California (May 28, 2010) 30 50 Altitude (km) 70 11015090130 North South O 3 [ppb] at Joshua Tree (JT) AM3 total zeroNA OBS O 3 O 3 Strat Observed RH (%) [ppb] Sondes over California See more process-oriented analysis in Lin MY et al (JGR, 2012b) Simulated enhancements of O 3 Strat consistent with observed low RH Reaching surface air on the following day

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Stratospheric influence on the highest observed surface ozone events in S. Nevada (e.g. June 5, 2012) What controls year-to-year variability of such events? Ozone (ppb, 5-min) Wind gust (mph, hourly) Model O 3 Strat (ppb, 8-h average) Baseline level (~20 ppb) likely represents an upper limit. Data c/o Zheng Li (Nevada DAQ) Lin MY et al (in prep, 2015) June 3June 5, Observed Pollution

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Strong stratospheric influence on year-to-year variability of high-elevation Western U.S. surface O 3 during April-May Lin MY et al (in review, 2015) 75 th 25 th 50 th O 3 Strat 1990 Emissions held constant Nudged to real winds Large IAV may complicate the attribution of observed O 3 trends in short records Stratospheric Contribution (ppb)

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r 2 (OBS, EACOt ) = 0.09 r 2 (OBS, O 3 Strat) = 0.43 Stratospheric Contribution (ppb) 1990 Asian pollution contributes less to WUS surface ozone inter-annual variability than the stratospheric influence Airflow from Eurasia towards the WUS in spring has weakened in the 2000s Consistent with declines in Radon-222 and O 3 observed at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (3.4 km altitude) during spring Too small to be discernable from surface O 3 observations over WUS Lin MY et al (2014) Apr-May

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory The high tail of the observed daily surface O 3 distribution over Western U.S. increases during La Nia springs Observed daily max 8-h average (MDA8) ozone [ppb] Neutral: = 56.5, = 7.5 El Nio (1998, 2010): = 56.9, = 7.3 La Nia (1999, 2008, 2011): = 58.5, = 7.9 Pinatubo (1992, 1993): = 54.3, = 6.5 Lin MY et al (in review, 2015) Changes in the high tail are statistically significant Probability Density

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory 11 1999 (La Nia) 1992 (Pinatubo) Frequent deep stratospheric intrusion events Weaker events, lower mean values Gothic in the Colorado Rocky Mtn (2.9 km altitude) NAAQS O 3 Strat BGO 3 Total Following strong La Nia conditions, deep STT may occur with sufficient frequency as to confound NAAQS attainment MDA8 O 3 (ppb)

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Lin MY et al (in review, 2015) Variance in daily O 3 Strat at 500hPa (April-May) ENSO-related jet characteristics and their impacts on lower trop. ozone variability over western NA La Nia El Nio La Nia (ppb 2 ) Lin MY et al (Nature GeoSci., 2014);

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory More frequent stratospheric intrusions expected in the following spring over WUS? Developing seasonal predictions with a few months of lead time to aid Western U.S. AQ planning? SST (C) Lin MY et al (in review, 2015) The time lag could allow regional preparations, e.g. Conducting daily forecasts for public health alerts Deploying targeted measurements aimed at identifying exceptional events MDA8 O 3 (ppb) Gothic, Colorado winter Tropical SST cooling typically peaks in winter

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Some Final Thoughts For Moving Forward Exploiting the linkage between La Nia and WUS stratospheric intrusion frequency to aid regional preparations for a high-ozone season? Conducting daily forecast and targeted measurements Need multi-model assessment of stratospheric influence Process-oriented evaluation to establish model credibility Focusing on the known deep SI events as a first step Leveraging CalNex (2010) and LVOS (2013) measurements The available weekly ozonesonde measurements are too infrequent to capture the actual variability of mean O 3 Need more frequent, continuous sonde measurements for spring? Meiyun.Lin@noaa.gov GFDL AM3

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Additional Slides for Discussions

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Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory SPRING Decreasing ozone at Mauna Loa in SPRING tied to recent La-Nia-like decadal cooling + weakening airflow from Asia Decreasing Rn (Bq/m 3 ) Weakening airflow from Eurasia ElNio LaNia-like decadal cooling [ Chavez2003; Meehl2013; Kosaka2013 ] Lin MY et al (Nature GeoSci., 2014) AMIP (fixed emissions) El Nio La Nia (ppb) 40 50 70 60 80 Even higher Mean background 500 hPa, Apr-May Ozone Anomaly, ppb (25 th percentile) P