JOURNALOF GEOPHYSICALRESEARCH,VOL. 103,NO. D9, PAGES10,697-10,711, MAY 20, 1998 Global OH trend inferred from methylchloroformmeasurements Maarten Krol, Peter Jan van Leeuwen, and Jos Lelieveld Institute forMarineandAtmospheric Research, Utrecht,Netherlands Abstract. Methylchloroform(MCF) measurements takenat the AtmosphericLifetime Experiment/ GlobalAtmosphericGasesExperiment(ALE/GAGE) measurement stations are usedto deducethe troposphericOH concentrationand its linear trendbetween1978 and 1993. Globalthree-dimensional fieldsof OH arecalculatedwith a transportmodelthat includesbackgroundphotochemistry. Despitethe largeuncertaintiesin theseOH fields,the simulatedMCF concentrations at the five ALE/GAGE stationscomparereasonablywell to the measurements. As a nextstep,the OH fieldsare adjustedto fit the measurements optimally.An ensemble(MonteCarlo)techniqueis usedto optimizethe OH scalingfactor andto derivethe lineartrendin OH. The optimizedOH fieldsandtrendimply a MCF lifetimein the troposphere of 4.7 yearsin 1978 andof 4.5 yearsin 1993. For CH4 these lifetimes(due to OH destructiononly) are 9.2 and 8.6 yearsin 1978 and 1993, respectively. Uncertaintiesin theseestimatesarediscussed usingbox-modelcalculations.The optimized OH concentrationis sensitiveto the strengthof other MCF sinks in the model and is constrained to 1... an+o.09 o.•7 x 106molecules o.•sx 106 molecules cm-a in 1978andto1... 07+0.09 cm-a in 1993. The deduced OH trend is sensitiveto the trend in the MCF emissions andis confined to theintervalbetween -0.1 and+1.1%yr-• witha mostlikelyvalueof 0.46%yr-•. Possible causes of a globalincrease in OH arediscussed. A positiveOH trendis calculateddue to stratospheric ozonedepletion,decliningCO concentrations, increasedwater vapor abundance,and enhancedNO• emissions.Althoughthe changes in the atmosphericcompositionare to a large extentunknown,it seemsthat the observed changesare consistentwith significantincreasesin OH over the pastdecades. 1. Introduction The oxidizingcapacityof the atmosphere is largelydeterminedby the OH radical. This radicalis producedasa result of O3 photolysisin the presenceof watervapor: O3+ h•,(,X< 320nm) O(1D)q-H20 > O(•D) + 02 > 2OH (1) (2) Other mechanismsproducingOH include the reaction of HOe with NO [e.g., Eisele et al., 1997]. On a global scale the mostimportantsinkfor OH is its reactionwith eitherCO or CH4, whichare relativelywell-mixedgasesthat limit the lifetime of OH to 1-10 s. In the planetaryboundarylayer, however,nonmethanehydrocarbonsmay be the dominant OH sink, particularlyin pollutedand forestedareas. The lifetimes of many trace gases,and most notably thoseof CH4 andCO, aredeterminedby thereactionwith OH. In orderto understand thetropospheric trendsandconcentrations of thesegases,one needsto havedetailedknowledgeof the tropospheric OH distributionandits temporalvariation. Copyright 1998bytheAmerican Geophysical Union. Methodsfor measuringOH in situin the troposphere have beendevelopedrecently. Thesemeasurements, as well as modelingstudies, showthattheOH concentration is highly variablein spaceandtime [Mountand Williams,1997;Poppe et al., 1994]. This may be expected,sinceOH production is determinedmainlyby 03, watervaporand UV-B radiation, which are extremelyvariable in the troposphere.For instance,the variabilityof UV-B is causedby changesin the solarzenith angle,clouds,aerosols,surfacereflections, and the overhead ozone column. that the tropospheric OH concentration on a globalscaleis subjectto considerable variation.Dlugokencky et al. [1996] claim thatthe SO2 thatwasinjectedby Mount Pinatubointo the lower stratosphere and uppertropospherecausedsubstantialblockingof UV-B radiation. This may have led to lower than usualtroposphericOH concentrations; these weretracedin thehigherthannormalCH4 growthratesduring 1991 and early 1992. On the otherhand,stratospheric ozonedepletionleadsto moreUV-B radiationin the troposphere. Sincestratospheric ozonehas decreasedsincethe early 1980sand evenmore dramaticallysincethe eruption of Mount Pinatubo,this may have led to increasingtroposphericOH concentrations [Bekkiet al., 1994; Madronich and Granier, 1992; Granier et al., 1996]. It should be realized Papernumber98JD00459. 0148-0227/98/98JD-00459509.00 It is reasonable to assume that the OH concentration is also a strongfunctionof cloud abundance(via Oa photolysis), 10,697 10,698 KROL ET AL.: OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM water vapor, O3 and NOx. Therefore,possibletrendsand variability in thesequantitiesare alsoaffectingOH concentrations.Nevertheless,stratospheric ozonedepletionis held partly responsiblefor the rapid declinein the CO and CH4 growthratesduring 1992 and 1993 [Bekkiet al., 1994] (following the increasesin 1991 and early 1992). Since reaction with OH is the most important sink for MEASUREMENTS quencies,and distributionof OH precursorsand sinks,the accuracyof the calculatedOH fieldsis limited [e.g., Mount and Williams, 1997]. Therefore some deviation between the measurements and the model resultscan be expected. For instance,Thompson and Stewart[ 1991] estimatedthata typ- ical simulationof globalmeanOH contains• 9•5%uncertaintydueto imprecisionsof the kinetics. CH4, measurements of CHa can be used to estimate the In this studywe simulatethe ALE/GAGE MCF measureglobally averagedOH concentration.This requiresdetailed mentsusingan OH field obtainedfrom a troposphericphoknowledgeof the CHa sources. Since methaneis emitted tochemistrycalculationwith a three-dimensionaltransport by manyanthropogenic andnaturalsources,estimatesof the model.In section3 we adjustthe globalOH field until a best total sourceare rather uncertain [Prather et al., 1994]. fit is obtained with the MCF The 1,1,1 trichloroethane (CH3CC13 or methylchloroform, hereafter called MCF) is more likely to be able to constrain troposphericOH concentrations[Prinn et al., 1992, 1995]. Sourcesof thiscompoundare purelyanthropogenic,and it is claimedthat the emissionsare known with high accuracy[Midgleyand McCulloch, 1995]. Most sourcesare locatedin the northernhemisphere(NH). For a few yearsnow, the MCF concentrations in the troposphere have been declining. It has been suggested[Spivakovsky et al., 1990, C. M. Spivakovsky,Past and future observations of CH3CC13 as a constraintfor the interhemispheric asymmetry in OH, submittedto GeophysicalResearch Letters, 1997] that the resultingdecline in the latitudinal gradientcan be usedas an extratestof ourunderstanding of mine the optimal linear OH trend between 1978 and 1993. An ensemble(Monte Carlo) method is used to estimatethe aforementioned scalingfactorandOH trend,alongwith their associatederrors. The sensitivityof the result to assump- OH. Prinn et al. [ 1995] usedthe 1978-1994AtmosphericLifetime Experiment/ Global AtmosphericGasesExperiment (ALE/GAGE) measurements[Prinn et al., 1983a, b] to constrainthe averagelifetime of MCF (1000-200 hPa) to ,1.640.3 years. They also estimatedthe 1978-1994 trend in OH tions made about MCF measurements. We also deter- emissions and other MCF sinks is discussedin section4, and the sensitivityof global OH is discussedin section5. Finally, in sections6 and 7 we discuss the results and summarize the main conclusions. 2. Method 2.1. Model Description The time series of MCF measured since 1978 at five ALE/GAGE stations(see section 3) have been simulated with the MOGUNTIA model [Zimmermann, 1984; Crutzen and Zimmermann,1991]. This model was originallydevelopedat theMax-Planck-Institute (MPI) for chemistryin Mainz, FRG (Germany),but severalaspectsof the model have been modified. First, the advection scheme was re- to be0.0 4- 0.9•%yr-1. Theseauthors pointed outthatthe placedby the lessdiffusiveup-windschemeQUICKEST increasesin the lower atmosphericOH levels, expectedas describedby Vestedet al. [1992]. The original Oort clia result of recent acceleratedtotal ozone depletion,must, matology[0ort, 1983] was replacedby EuropeanCentre at least at low latitudes,be offset by other factors. Prinn for Medium RangeWeatherForecasts(ECMWF) 1987 anet al. [1995] useda coarse-gridtwo-dimensionalmodel in alyzed wind data. As in the originalmodel, the advection which the OH concentrationwas estimatedusingthe MCF is run with monthlyaveragedwinds. The variabilityof the measurements.There hasbeen somedisputeaboutseveral winds duringone month is translatedinto diffusioncoeffiaspectsof themethod[Spivakovsky et al., 1990;Hartleyand cientsby meansof Lagrangianmixing timescales[ZimmerPrinn, 1991; Spivakovsky et al., 1991; Cunnoldand Prinn, mann, 1984]. 1991; Spivakovsky,1991]. The inversemethodsof Prinn Deep convectionis parameterizedby the schemedevelet al. [ 1995] focuson the measuredtemporaltrends,global opedby Feichterand Crutzen[ 1990]. The chemistry,which content,and latitudinaldistributionsof MCF. Spivakovsky is usedonly to derivethe initial OH field, is the sameasde[ 1991] statesthat thesemethodsare not truly independent scribedby Dentenetand Crutzen[ 1993]. It describesthe and that the determination of both the MCF lifetime and a background CHa-CO-NOx-HOz chemistryandaccountsfor calibrationfactoris an ill-posedproblembecausetheresults heterogeneous removalof NOz by sulfateaerosol[Dentener aresensitiveto smallchangesin theemissions priorto 1978. and Crutzen, 1993]. The model is run for three consecuThe latterproblemhasbeensolvedby the recalibrationof tive yearswith the initial conditionsand emissionsgivenin themeasurements reportedby Prinn et al. [ 1995]. However, Table 1. Note that nonmethanehydrocarbonchemistryis to our knowledge,no attemptshavebeenmadeto verify the not considered.Instead,a surrogatefor theseemissionshas resultsof Prinn et al. [1995] by an independent modeling been includedthroughCO (50%) and CH20 (50%) emisapproach.This is the goalof thispaper. sions.Houwelinget al. [1998] showthat OH concentrations In globalthree-dimensional tropospheric chemistrymod- are lower over the continentswhen more sophisticatednoneling it hasbecomecommonto testthe calculatedOH fields methanehydrocarbon chemistryis included.However,these by simulatingtheMCF concentrations andcomparingthese changesare compensated for by higherOH overthe oceans, with the ALE/GAGE measurements. Because of the uncer- taintiesin the OH chemistry,rate constants, photolysisfre- and the calculated small net effect in OH does not influence MCF simulations[Houwelinget al., 1998]. Specialcarehas KROL ET AL.: OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM Table 1. Initial Conditions and Sources for the 3-Year Model Simulation Species Initial,ppb NOx 50 1500 60 0.1 HNOa CH20 C2H6 Call8 0.0 0.0 --- 03 CH4 'CO Source, yr- x Table 2. MCF MEASUREMENTS 10,699 Emissions Year Emission Year Emission Year 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 0.1 0.2 0.9 0.6 7.5 13 19 20 29 35 37 54 55 57 75 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 105 133 147 156 149 170 214 266 305 309 382 462 513 511 537 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Emission Boundary 473 Tg 523 Tg 1320 Tg 31.7 Tg N 4.7 Tg N fixedconcentration 300 Tg 13.9 Tg 17.1 Tg 100 hPaa surface surface surface lightning 100 hPab surface as CO and CH20 as CO and CH20 All otherspeciesare initialized with zero concentration. aAccountingfor downwardO3 transportfrom the extratropical stratosphere. 548 522 536 585 594 603 623 666 690 719 636 592 387 bAccording tomeasurements [Murphyet al., 1993]. MCFEmissions arein unitsof kt yr-1. beentakento treatphotolysisproperly,sincethe globalOH distributionis very sensitiveto ozonephotolysis.Therefore three-dimensional fields of photolysisrates are calculated, takinginto accounttheeffectsof clouds,stratospheric ozone HRTo Lo-eAZ1 (AZ2kH +v/D2kH)(4) columnsand surfacealbedo [Krol and van Weele, 1997]. The cloud data are taken from the International Satellite Cloud ClimatologyProject(ISCCP) database[Rossowand Schiffer, 1991] for the year 1987 and the ozone is taken from the firstyear of Nimbus7 Total OzoneMapping Spectrometer (TOMS) observations[McPetersand Labow, 1996], processedwith theversion7 algorithm.The chemistryis calculatedwith a 2 hourtime step,andthe diurnalvariationin the photolysisratesis takeninto account. The transportpart of the model is used to simulate the MCF distribution. Monthly averagedOH fields are adoptedfrom the last year of the 3-year run with chemistry. The emissionestimatesof MCF are takenfrom Prinn et al. [ 1987] (1951-1969) andfrom Midgley and McCulloch [1995] (1970-1993). The subdivisionof the emissionsinto five distinctregionsis adaptedfrom Midgleyand McCulloch [1995]. Within eachregion, the emissionis distributedaccordingto the populationdistributiongiven by Fung et al. [ 1991]. Emissionsprior to 1975 are distributedas in 1975. Global MCF emissions are listed in Table 2. where e is the oceanfractionin the grid box, H is Henry's lawcoefficient (M atm-1),/7 is thegasconstant (0.083atm M- 1 K- 1), kH is thehydrolysis rate(s- 1), andD2 is the diffusion coefficientin the deep (non-mixed layer) ocean (1.7 cm2 s- 1). Thetemperature dependent hydrolysis rate kH and Henry's law coefficientH of MCF are calculated through[McLinden, 1989; Gerkensand Franklin, 1989] 1013 H = 133.-----• exp(-20.29 q-4655/To)(5) kH -- 3.1x 10-8 exp(--10000(1/To- 1/298)). (6) To is givenin Kelvin, andthevaluefor H is correctedfor the effectof seasaltby multiplyingwith a factorof 0.8 [McLinden, 1989]. The oceanmixed-layerdepth and temperatures were obtainedfrom the MPI Hamburgoceanmodel (K. Six, personalcommunication,1997). The lifetime of MCF toward oceanicloss,as calculatedwith this parameterization, is about83 years,which is in good agreementwith the esti- TroposphericOH is the dominantsink for MCF through mate of Butler et al. [ 1991]. the reaction The net flux of MCF to the stratospherehas been parameterizedas a hemisphericmeanand a monthlyvaryingloss rate at the 100 hPa level [Kanakidou et al., 1995]. The strato- MCF+OH k>products ; -1550 k: 1.8 x 10-12exp• T (3) sphericlossthusrepresents thenet effectof the outfluxin the IntertropicalConvergence Zone (ITCZ) and a smallerreturn flux into the model domain [Talukdaret al., 1992] with T the temperaturein Kelvin. at midlatitudes. The assumed lifetime of MCF due to stratospheric destructionis about50 Two other sinks are taken into account: an ocean sink and years,in agreementwith Kanakidouet al. [ 1995]. destructionin the stratosphere. The hydrolysisin oceanwaThe MCF simulationsare carried out with a timestepof ter is computedaccordingto Kanakidouet al. [1995]. We 2 hours and are comparedwith MCF measurementson the accountfor monthlyvaryingfieldsof the heightof the atmo- basisof monthly averagedMCF fields. In the model, the sphericmixedlayer(AZ1), the heightof the oceanicmixed exchangetime between the NH and SH is 1.05 year, in layer(AZ2), andtheoceantemperature (To). The oceanic goodagreementwith otherestimates[Ma'ller and Brasseur, losstermis parameterized as[Kanakidou etal., 1995] 1995]. 10,700 2.2. Data KROLET AL.' OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORMMEASUREMENTS 160 Treatment It is not easyto comparemodel resultsto measurements. First, MCF concentrations in a modelrepresentaverageconcentrationsovera grid box, whereasmeasurements aretaken at a singlelocation.Second,the transportin the model uses monthly averagedwind fields augmentedby diffusionand convectionparameterizations.This approachneglectsthe role of singlemeteorologicaleventswhichmay affectmean concentrations. Finally, due to the limited resolutionof the model, sharp gradientsin the MCF concentrationare not properly resolved. Sharp gradientsare expectedto occur 140 120 80 ß Barbados Tasmania 60 40 I • 980 , [ • I • I 1985 1990 i i 1995 close to sourcesand close to the ITCZ, which forms an MCF transportbarrierbetweenthe NH andthe SH. For most MCF measurement stations, however, these problems are only minor. The ALE/GAGE measurement sitesare positionedin remoteregions,and pollution events,causedby transportfrom nearbysources,can be removedby a screeningprocedure[Prinn et al., 1992, 1995]. The monthly averagedwinds are expectedto blow from pollution-freewind sectors,which favorsa comparisonbetween the screened measurements and the model. Further- more,far awayfrom sourcesthe MCF fieldsareexpectedto be rather smooth. Thereforeone doesnot expectlarge gradientswithin the corresponding model grid box. In other words, the measurementstationsare representativefor a largetropospheric compartment[Prinn et al., 1995]. Hence we directly comparethe monthly averagedmodel resultsto the monthly averagedMCF measurements (nonpolluted). We simply take the model grid box in which the measurementstationis located.However,two problems arise. The Ireland station(Adrigole: 52øN, 10øW,replaced in 1987 by Mace Head: 53øN, 10øW) is located exactly on an east-westboundaryof a model grid. We selectthe grid box locatedwest of the stationbecausethis grid cell is free of emissionsand is locatedupwindof MCF sources (box 20øW-10øW,50øN-60øN). The Oregonstation(Cape Meares:45øN, 124øW) is locatedin a grid box in whichthe model emits a considerable amount of MCF. Since the mea- 160 i .... 140 120 . 80 60 40 980 1985 1990 1995 Figure 1. Monthly averagedALE/GAGE measurements. Error barsdenote1rr variationsduringthe month.The solid lines correspondto the functionfit throughthe measurements(equation(7)). tropicalstationsshowlarge interannualvariations. These variationscannotbe reproducedby our model,sincewe use only 1 yearof analyzedwind dataanda convection parameterizationwhichdoesnot vary from yearto year. Therefore we describe the measurements with a function which effec- cycleaswell astheinterannual surementsite is positionedat the coast(i.e., upwindfrom tivelyfiltersoutthe seasonal thesesources,assuminga steadywesterlyflow), we moved variations.We are interestedin the long-termconcentration OH, and this functhe emissionsfrom the above-mentioned grid box (120øW- of (andthe linear trendin) tropospheric 130øW, 40øN-50øN) one box toward the east. The other tion containsexactlytheinformationneededfor comparison model grid boxesthat are used for the comparisonare as with our model results. Prinn et al. [1995] fitted the measurementsat the five follows: Barbados(RaggedPoint: 13øN, 59øW): grid box 50øW-60øW, 10øN-20øN; American Samoa (Point MatatALE/GAGE stationsby meansof Legendrepolynomials. ula: 14øS, 171øW): grid box 170øW-180øW,10øS-20øS; We follow this approachand for eachstationdescribethe X by the function and Tasmania(CapeGrim: 41øS, 145øE):grid box 140øE- MCF measurements 150øE, 40øS-50øS. The monthly mean mixing ratios measuredat the five ALE/GAGE stationsaredepictedin Figure 1. Obviouslocal MCF pollutionoccurringat the Ireland,Oregon,andTasma- x(t) --ao +k=l E Nk 2/•k] (2k) a•P••t - 1 (7) where N is half the lengthof the time seriesof the particin years),and t runsfrom 0 to 2N. arealsoincludedin Figure 1 andarecalculatedfrom thecon- ular station(expressed centrationfluctuations duringthemonth[Prinnet al., 1992]. As a result,the argumentof the Legendrefunctionalways to a LegenThe solid lines correspondto a functionfit to the measure- has a value between-1 and 1. P& corresponds ments, which will be discussedlater. dre polynomialof orderk (P0 = 1). The coefficients a• :in The latitudinalgradientand the larger standarddeviation front of the Legendrefunctionreceivea properdimension in the NH are clearly visible in Figure 1. In particular,the (seeTable3) by the factorin front of ak. Here kmaxCO1Tenia stations is omitted from the data. The standard deviations KROL ET AL.: OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS 10,701 Table3. OptimizedLegendreCoefficients Corresponding to Equation(7) Ireland Oregon Barbados Samoa Tasmania Start End Numberof points ao (ppt) July/1978 Dec./1993 142 126.7 q- 0.7 Dec./1979 July/1989 124 121.6 q- 0.6 July/1978 Dec./1993 183 114.6 q- 0.5 July/1978 Dec./1993 170 95.7 q- 0.4 July/1978 Dec./1993 221 93.9 q- 0.3 al (pptyr-1) a2(10-2 pptyr-2) a3 (10-4 pptyr-3) a4(10-6 pptyr-4) as(10-s pptyr-5) a6(10-m pptyr-•) a7 (10-12 pptyr-7) 4.0q-0.1 -4.0 q-0.8 -9.0 q-2 -30 q-5 -12 q-7 4.7q-0.2 1.2q-2.0 3.8q-0.1 -4.6 q-0.6 -5 q-2 -12 q-4 -10 q-6 3.7q-0.1 -3.7 q-0.5 -1 q-2 -11 q-3 -1 q-5 -0 q-7 -5 q-7 3.8q-0.1 -3.5 q-0.4 0 q- 1 -11 q-3 -7 q-4 -1 q-5 The resultingfunctionfit is depictedin Figure 1. spondsto the maximumorderthat improvesthe overallfit the period 1975-1993 with the initial MCF concentration between the measurements and the functional taken from the base run. Errors in this initial MCF field, fit still further (as measuredby the sum of the squareddistancesbetween which are causedby errorsin emissionsand sinksprior to 1975, are accountedfor by the introductionof a third variable. This variable,called AMCF (expressed in %), is also The coefficientsak are optimizedby weighting each X chosenrandomlyfrom a normal distributionarounda mean the function valuesand the actual measurements).The value for kmaxdiffers from station to station. by theinverse of a2. As a consequence, thefit is lesstight value. for the northernmidlatitudeand the tropicalstationswhich In more generalterms, a vector c• is defined,which conexperiencea lot of variationduringonemonth(seeFigure 1). tains elementswhich are randomly varied around a mean We include in the standard deviations an additional 5% error value. An independentmodelrun is performedfor eachredue to uncertainties in the absolute calibration of the MCF measurements [Prinn et al., 1995]. The equationusedhere includesmoretermsthanthe oneusedby Prinn et al. [ 1995], but it doesnot include terms that describea seasonalcycle. The functionalfit throughthe measurements is depictedin Figure 1. Table3 liststhe coefficientsak per stationand the associated 1crerrors.Note that the periodoverwhich equation(7) is evaluatedis differentfor the Oregonstationdueto the differentmeasurement periodfor thisstation.Note alsothatthe periodoverwhichthe functionis evaluatedrunsto the end of 1993. Emissionestimatesfor the yearsafter 1993 were not availableto us, andwe preferto comparethe modeland the dataoverthe sametime period. 2.3. Ensemble Method To eliminatebiases,e.g., from a singleyear'smeteorology (1987) and systematicerrorsin the global mean OH calculations,we adjustthe globalthree-dimensional OH field in order to obtain the best comparisonwith the ALE/GAGE measurements. In additionto adjustingthe global mean OH (hereaftercalled AOH, expressedin %), we also estimate alization of this vector ((•i). After a number of model inte- grations(n), the bestestimate• is obtainedfrom a weighted averageof the vectors •_ Ei=iWi(•i , EiL1Wi (8) The associatederror is givenby O'& -- Ei--1 Wi ((•i--•)2 Ei-- 1Wi n n (9) After sufficientmodelruns,the valuesof • and rra converge to their final values. The weightswi are a measureof how well the ith model result matches the measurements. If the matchis good,a large weight is calculated,whereasa poor matchleadsto a low weight. Thus the weightscan be interpreted as the probability of finding integrationi, given the measurementsand the error in the measurements.The appendixcontainsa more elaborateexplanationof the ensemble method. The MCF measurementsare describedby equation (7). theoptimallineartrendin OH (in % yr-1) for theperiod This equation can also be applied to the modeled MCF 1978-1993. The base run is defined as the simulation with zero AOH and zero trendandcoversthe 1951-1993 period, assumingzero MCF concentrations in 1951. AOH and the OH trend are varied randomly arounda meantrendand AOH, assuminga normaldistribution.To avoid excessiveCPU time consumptionfor simulatingthe entiretime span1951-1993repeatedly,the modelis run for concentrations.Insteadof making a direct comparisonbetween the measured and modeled MCF concentrations, we comparethe coefficientsof the function. The coefficients that representthe measurements are comparedwith the coefficientsthat representthe modeledMCF concentrations. When the MCF concentrations that are simulatedby a model integrationi are fitted to the samefunction, this yields the 10,702 KROLET AL.: OH TRENDFROMMETHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS OH (106molecules cm-3,Jan) coefficients bs,k,ifor the Legendretermsk at stations. A "penalty"functiondefineshow well the modelcoefficients 200 (mean, trend, and higher order terms) compareto the coefficientspresentedin Table 3. The penaltyof a particular model integrationi is calculatedas , , .... - s=l )2 / // --3- --•-•------ 400 600 (10) k=0 8OO in whichas,kandos,karethevaluesgivenin Table3. The 1ooo model usesmonthly averagedtransportparameters. The variabilityof themodeledMCF concentrations overa month is only smallanddoesnot representthe samevariabilityas that in the measurements.Therefore the monthly averaged modelconcentrations all receiveequalweightingwhenthey are fitted to equation(7). The "global"penaltyPi of a particularmodelintegration -85 0 85 latitude OH (106molecules cm-3,Jul) 20O 400 canbe subdivided into five "station"penaltiesPi,,. Penalties can be translatedinto weightsthat are requiredin the ensembleaverageof the modelruns(equation(8)): wi = exp (-Pi). -- 600 (11) 800 .... Theseweightscan alsobe calculatedby usingthe penalties lOOO of an individualstation(Pi,s). The methodthat hasbeen outlinedhereformallycorresponds to theminimumvariance estimatormethod,assumingGaussianerrorstatistics(seethe appendix). -85 0 85 latitude OH (106molecules cm-3,yearlyaveraged) In summary,theALE/GAGE MCF measurements arerepresentedby a functionthat retainsonly the long-termvariations. The ensemblemethodgeneratesmodel integrations 200 400 with random variations in the OH trend, AOH, and initial MCF concentration. Subsequently, eachmodelrun is treated .... 600 in the same manner as the measurements, which leads to weightsthat are appliedto an ensembleaverageof the random perturbations.Finally, this ensembleaverageleadsto optimalvaluesfor thetrend,AOH, andinitialMCF concentration,togetherwith the associated errors. 3. Results 3.1. Global 8OO lOOO -85 0 latitude 85 Figure2. Zonallyand24-houraveraged OH concentrations. OH Distribution Figure 2 displaysthe OH concentrationobtainedfrom the third year of a 3-year model run with chemistry. The monthly averagedOH concentrationsare usedin the MCF simulations. The yearly averagedfield clearly showsan asymmetricOH distributionwith more OH in the NH due to higher O3 and NOz concentrations. Previously,OH distributionshave beenpresentedby Kanakidou et al. [1995], M•iller and Brasseur [1995], Spivakovskyet al. [1990], and Crutzen and Zimmermann [1991]. These distributions all show an OH maximum in the summerhemispherelocatedaround800 hPa, which is morepronounced in theNH summer.If we compareourOH fieldsto the widely usedfieldsof Spivakovsky et al. [1990], we noticethat the OH concentrations generallyagreewell, our valuesbeing somewhathigher. Also, our maximumin the NH summer is located closer to the surface. These dif- ferencesmaybe explainedby theneglectof nonmethane hydrocarbonsin our chemistryscheme.Anotherfactorof importanceis the quantumyield of the ozonephotolysis(reaction (1)). In our calculations,we usethe valuesproposedby Michelsen et al. [ 1994]. These values result in increasedOH concentrations,especiallyin the lower tropospheredue to enhancedozonephotolysisat wavelengthslongerthan 310 nm. Recent measurementsof Silvente et al. [ 1997] indicate even higherquantumyields, which would lead to more OH in the troposphere.This is an additionaluncertaintyin the OH chemistry. 3.2. MCF Simulations Figure 3 showsthe 1975-1993 model-simulatedMCF concentrations(base run). Although it is not the subject KROLET AL.: OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORMMEASUREMENTS 160 10,703 Samoa 120 140 lOO 120 Ireland 80 100 60 80 40 1975 60 1980 1985 1990 1995 Year 40 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Year Figure 4. Solidlinesarefunctionalfit (equation(7)) through the first five MCF simulations for the Samoa station. Dashed line is corresponding fit throughthe MCF measurements at Samoa. 160 140 the integrationsare drawn from the normal distributionsas 120 follows:-5 + 1.4%for AOH; 0.47 + 0.18%yr-1 for the trend; and 5 q- 7% for AMCF. lOO 80 60 The uncertainties /• Samoa 40 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Year indicated tions. These distributions refer to l rr standard devia- are rather narrow. If the distribu- tionshad beenchosenwider, only a few integrationswould have receiveda significantweight in equation(8), which would have made the method very uneconomical. Therefore pilot calculationswere performed,in which the penalty function(equation(10)) wascrudelyminimizedwith respect to the three variables. As we will see later, the distributions Figure 3. MCF concentrationsimulatedat the ALE/GAGE are still wide enoughfor a reliable optimizationof the varistationsby the model underbaserun conditions(thin line, ables. see text). The solid lines depict the functionalfit (equaTable 4 showsthat the total penalty for this stationand tion (7)) through the simulatedMCF concentrations.The dashedlinesrepresentthe functionalfit throughthe measure- these integrationsranges from 1.38 to 9.87. From equaments. tion (11) it follows that the weight that is receivedby integration4 is about5000 timeslargerthan the weight of integration1 becausethe weightsdependexponentiallyon the penalties. It is obviousthat it is predominantlythe lower of this paper, we note that the simulatedseasonalvaria- order terms (the mean and the trend) which are sensitive tionscomparewell with the measuredvariations.In general, the fit of the empiricalfunctionto the measurements is in fair agreementwith the corresponding fit of the threedimensionalsimulation.Nevertheless, in particular,for the to changesin the OH trend, AOH and AMCF. Higher order terms,however,may contributesignificantlyto the total penalty,as is shownfor the Ps term in Table 4. Note that thesehigher order terms do not vary stronglybetweenthe Oregon station the model underestimatesMCF concentra- differentintegrationsbecauseonly the globalOH concentrations.Giventhe largenumberof uncertaintiesin the model- tion, the trend in OH, and the initial MCF concentration are ing approach,however,thesedifferencesbetweenthe model varied. Table 5 lists the AOH, trend, and AMCF values obandthe measurements canbe expected.If we try to explain thedifferencesin termsof the OH field only (ignoringother tained by taking an ensembleaverageof 200 integrations. errorsin themodelandinputdata),the comparison suggests The resultsare given for all stationsgroupedtogetherand a smalloverestimate of OH in the model.Also, at firstsight for the individual stations. Note that the result for all stait seemsthatthe simulatedtrenddifferssystematically from tionsgroupedtogethercan be differentfrom the averageof thetrendin themeasurements, whichsuggests thatthesedif- the individual stations. Figure 5 providesa visualization of the ensemblemethod. In the left panels, both the iniferencescanbe explainedby imposinga trendin OH. To determine the OH concentration and trend for which tial random distributions(dotted histograms)and the final the bestcomparisonwith the measurements is obtained,we ensemble-weighted distributionsare given (histogramwith use the ensemble method outlined in section 2.3. As an exsolidlines). The distributionsarebinnedfor thispurpose.To ample,Figure4 showsthe empiricalfunctionalfit to the first obtainthe solidline histogram,we averagedthe weightsof five of 200 integrationsfor the Samoastation. Table 4 lists the integrationsin eachbin. Both distributionspeakat about the dominantpenaltiesfor thesefive integrations,as calcu- the sameposition.The weightsdisplaya narrowerdistribulatedwith equation(10). The randomnumberswhich define tion, whichconfirmsthatthe samplinghasbeentakenfrom a 10,704 KROL ET AL.' OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS Table 4. Dominant Penalties Obtained for the First Five MCF Simulations for the Samoa Station i AOH, % Trend,% yr-• AMCF,% Po P• P5 Total -1.9 -5.9 -8.1 -5.1 -5.8 0.40 0.50 0.63 0.46 0.74 11.4 4.6 6.5 6.4 3.6 5.97 0.47 5.78 0.07 1.24 2.48 0.07 0.16 0.19 2.53 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.83 0.81 9.87 1.63 7.08 1.38 4.93 1 2 3 4 5 , o . Thecorresponding functional fitsaredisplayed in Figure4. sufficientlywidedistribution. Many of therandomnumbers thusfar havebeenobtained assuming thattheemissions and otherMCF sinksthatare appliedin the modelare free of significantlyto the final weightedaverage.In contrast,the errors. threecentralbins of the trendhistogramaccountfor more than60% of thetotalweightin theensembleaverage. 4. SensitivityAnalysis The shapeof the ensemble-weighted distributionreveals To assess the sensitivityof the modelto uncertainties in an anticorrelationbetween the trend and AOH. Indeed, the in the tail of the initial random distributions do not contribute covariance between the trend and AOH is -0.88. This anti- the sourcesand sinksof MCF, we condensethe model into a of theMCF concencorrelationcanbe understood as follows.A highertrendin single"global"box.Therateof change tration in the box is described by: OH requiresa smallerAOH valueto arriveat the sameaverageMCF destruction rate. For similarreasons, a positive dMCF covariance of 0.75 is found between AOH and AMCF. dt The panelson the right-handsideof Figure5 showthe convergenceof the variablesas a functionof the numberof integrations.The vertical bars showthe lrr standarddevia- = EMCF(t) -- MCF x [LoH(1 + trend(t))+ Lo + L,] (12) whereEMCF denotesthe time dependent emission(ppt tions,It is observed thatafteronlyabout80 integrations the yr- x),andLoll, Lo,andL8 (yr-x) denote theMCFremoval ensembleaverageis closeto thefinal result.However,small by the reaction with OH, the ocean sink, and the stratofluctuations remain as a result of the random nature of the sphericdestruction,respectively.Thesevaluesare calcuestimation method.After 200 integrations, theprobability latedasaveragesof the MCF sinksin the three-dimensional is 95% that AOH and the OH trend are estimated with an model. The OH sink is varied in time with a linear trend in accuracybetterthan5%. For AMCF thisaccuracyis 7%. theperiod1978-1993.Foursensitivity runsarediscussed in It shouldbe stressed thattheseerrorsarepurelymathemati- which the emissions and sinks of MCF are varied. cal, since model uncertainties are not considered. In the next section we will show that the errors in the variables associ- atedwith the modeluncertainties are muchlargerthanthe 1rr values listed in Table 5. Table 5 shows that the best match between the model re- sultsand the measurements is obtainedif the globalOH concentration is scaleddownby about5%. The AOH val- 1. Thestratospheric sinkis increased (1/L8 = 25 years), theoceansinkis increased (1/Lo -- t52years)andtheemissionsaredecreased by 1rr (- 2.2%). 2. Thestratospheric sinkis decreased (1/Ls = 75.years), the oceansinkis decreased (1/Lo = 134 years)andthe emissions areincreased by la (+2.2%). ues differ between the stations and run from -3.5% to -7%. Valuesfor AOH, OH Trend, Thesesmalldifferences maybe explainedby modelerrors, Table 5. Ensemble-Weighted suchasa wrongOH distribution, transport errors,errorsin andAMCF After200Integrations the emission distribution, and the limited resolution. Nev- ertheless,it is importantto notethatthe AOH valuewould changeonly by a few percentif fewermeasurement stations are taken into account. For the OH trend the differences be- tween the stations are even smaller. On the basis of each individual measurementstation,a similar trend in OH is ob- tained.Thisconsistent resultimpliesthatan averagetrend of 0.46q-0.09%yr- xin OHhasoccurred ona globalscale Station AOH, % Trend,% yr-• AMCF,% Ireland -3.5 + 1.0 0.44 + 0.11 3.8 q- 5.6 Oregon -6.9 + 0.8 0.42 + 0.14 11,1 + 5.2 Barbados Samoa Tasmania All -3.5 + -5.0 + -5.3 + -4.8 + 0.49 0.45 0.43 0.46 2.8 3.4 0.8 5.5 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.7 + + + •: 0.11 0.10 0.09 0,09 + 5.5 -l- 5.8 + 5.4 + 3.7 in theperiod1978-1993.Anotherpossible explanation, i.e., thattheassumed trendin theMCF emissions is wrong,will The resultsare given for the individualstationsand for all stabe investigated in the next section.The resultspresented tionsgrouped together (seetext).Uncertainty rangesreferto 1a. KROL ET AL.: OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS 0.3 -4.0 0.2 -5.0 0.1 -6.0 0.0 -6.5 -7.0 10,705 -5.5 -10 -8 -6 -4 0 -2 50 1O0 150 200 150 200 100 150 # realisations 200 # realisations AOH (%) 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.50 • 0.15 0.40 • O.lO = ¸ -,• 0.30 0.05 0.00 0.20 0.0 0.4 0.2 0.6 0.8 0 1.0 50 Trend(% yr'1) 10 0.25 8 0.20 •' 6 0.15 0.10 -- 0.051' .... 0.00 :•--• -10 100 # realisations 0 ' 10 20 AMCF (%) 0 0 50 Figure 5. (left panels)Histogramsof the initial normaldistributions andof theensemble-weighted distributions(seetext). (rightpanels)Ensemble-weighted variablesasa functionof thenumberof integrations. Errorbarsreferto 1crstandard deviations. Top,AOH; middle,OH trend;bottom,AMCF. 3. The emission trend is increased(--4.4% in 1975 to +4.4% in 1993). 4. The emissiontrend is decreased(+4.4% in 1975 to -4.4% in 1993). Thus, the MCF lifetime toward oceanic loss is varied be- ulation. Since more MCF is destroyedin the stratosphere and the ocean,and lessMCF is emitted,this run producesa lowerboundfor OH in thetroposphere. The secondsensitivity run mirrorsthis effect and producesan upperboundfor OH. The OH trendcalculationis expectedto be sensitiveto tween62 and 134years,accordingto theestimatesof Butler the trend in the emission estimates. For the third and fourth et al. [ 1991]. The lifetime towardstratospheric lossis var- sensitivityrunsthe MCF deviationsremain within 2%, with ied between25 and75 years,which is a somewhatarbitrary zero deviation in 1988. Figure6c showsthe MCF perturbationfor changesin the choice. Errors in the emissiontrend (runs 3 and 4) may be ZXOH, OH trend (T), and AMCF. The same box model is due to changesin unreportedMCF productionor to uncertaintiesin the translationof industrialMCF productioninto used,but nowthe termsLo• andtrend in equation(12) are emissionestimates[Midgley and McCulloch, 1995]. Fol- perturbedas well asthe initial MCF concentration. First, AOH is considered. We calculate with the box lowing Prinn et al. [1992, 1995], in sensitivityrun 4 (or 3) we perturbthe emissionsby +2a (or-2a) at the startof the model that a 10% increase in the OH concentration (from simulationperiodandby -2a (or +2a) at the end of the sim- 1975 on) results in a 7% MCF reduction at the end of the ulation. These numbers are based on the differences between simulationperiod. The time evolutionof the perturbation two emissionscenarios asdiscussed by Prinn et al. [ 1992]. matchesthe shapeof the sensitivityruns t and 2 discussed Figure 6a displaysthe results obtainedfrom the box above. As expected,an incorrectestimateof the MCF model. The AOH, trend, and AMCF values from Table 5 source,stratospheric sink,and oceanicsink can be compenare used for the MCF simulations in the box model. The satedfor by a changein AOH only. The influence of a trend in OH on the MCF concentration figure showsthat the calculatedMCF concentrations,averagedover the entiremodeldomain,hardly displayseasonal differs from the AOH influence. If the trend in OH (i.e., variations. 0.46%yr-1) is removed, it followsthattheMCF concen- Figure6b showstheperturbations of the MCF concentra- trationincreasessteadilyfrom 0% in 1978 to 5% at the end tion for the differentsensitivityruns. The first sensitivity of the simulationperiod(Figure6c). It is clearthat the sigrun leads to a 9% smaller MCF burden at the end of the simnalsfrom sensitivityruns3 and 4 can only be explainedby 10,706 140 KROLET AL.: OH TRENDFROMMETHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS in the emissionis perturbedfrom -4.4% in 1975 to +4.4% in 1993. The trend is much less sensitiveto the perturbationsappliedin sensitivityruns 1 and 2. The emissionsused by Prinn et al. [ 1995] resultin a slightlylower trendand a lessnegativeAOH value.It is unlikelythatothermodeluncertainties(OH distribution,transport,resolution)influence 'a 120 • 80 the deduced OH trend. The MCF emissions assumed here therefore limit the OH trend to the interval between -0.1 and 40 1975 1980 1990 1985 1995 +1.1%yr-•. The results obtained for the OH trend and AOH would not ! i i d2 3 ......... -10 1975 i 1980 .-•-- , , , , ! 1985 Year '-"----..4 , , , , i 1990 , , , 1995 changemuchwhenthe AMCF valuewouldhavebeenkept fixed. As shownby the box modelsimulations,the AMCF perturbationdiminishesat a rate that equalsthe MCF lifetime (about5 years). Sincewe startthe modelrunsat 1975, the low sensitivityto AMCF is not surprising. Usingtheseresults,the calculatedatmospheric lifetime of MCF is 4.7 q- 0.1 yearsin 1978 and4.5 q- 0.1 yearsin 1993 (lrr errorsfrom emissionuncertaintiesonly). This lifetime consistsof a part that is determinedby dissolutionin the oceans(83 years),a lifetimetowed stratospheric destruction (50 ye•s), anda p•t thatis dueto oxidationby tropospheric OH (5.5 ye•s in 1978 and 5.2 ye•s in 1993). The MCF destructionby OH changessignificantlywith height. The averagelifetime at the surface(1000-950 hPa) is about 3 ye•s, whereasat 200 hPa a lifetime of almost24 ye•s is calculated.This is causedby the highertemperatures and OH levels close to the surface. If the uncertainties in emissions and other MCF sinks are taken into account, the MCF lifetime towed OH oxidation 1975 1980 1985 Year 1990 1995 iscalculated tobe5 q+l.oyearsin 1978(fullrange e•or). Theco•esponding OHnumber density equals 1...nn+o.oo o.15 x cm-a (100•100 hPa). For CH4, theseOH Figure 6. (a) Box modelsimulationof the globalMCF con- 10a molecules centration;(b) sensitivityof the global MCF concentration concentrations imply a lifetime throughOH destructionof to the four runs(seetext); (c) sensitivityof the globalMCF 9.2}• ye•s. Owing to thetrendin OH,these numbers concentration to perturbations in AOH, the OH trend(T), change to1.07+0'00 and AMCE -o.17x 10amolecules cm-a and... o.8ye•s in 1993,respectively.The uncertainties •e calculatedusing theresultsof the sensitivityruns 1 and2 listedin Table6. In paaicul•, the largeuncertaintyassumedin the stratospheric adjustingthe OH trend.In otherwords,the trendin OH is lifetime (50 ß 25 years)is responsiblefor the uncertainty sensitive to an incorrect estimate of the emission trend. Fiin the global averagedOH concentrationand the methane nally,the signalfrom a perturbedinitialMCF concentration lifetime. In fact, this uncertaintyin s•atosphericlossmay (+10% in 1975)decaysrelativelyrapidly.The exponential be muchsmaller,thusprovidingan uppere•or limit. decaytimeequalstheMCF lifetime,whichis about5 years. Now, we return to the full three-dimensionalmodel and reestimateAOH, the OH trend, and AMCF under the con- ditions of the same four sensitivityruns. The resultsare 5. Sensitivity of the Global OH Concentration tained with simulations that are based on the emissions used Basedon publishedemissionestimates[Midgleyand McCulloch,1995; Prinn et al., 1995], we infer a positivetrend in OH, althoughwe have shownthat the calculatedtrend byPrinnetal. [ 1995].It is shownthatAOH runsfrom- 19% in OH is sensitive to the assumed trend in the emissions. givenin Table6. Alsogivenin the tablearetheresultsob- (run 1) to +4% (run 2). As expected,theseextremesoccur Moreover, the deduced trend is almost uniform for all stawhentheperturbations of theemissionandtheMCF sinks tions. Theseresultsthusshowthat the comparisonbetween improvessigall lead to a largeror smallertropospheric MCF concentra- the modelandthe ALE/GAGE measurements tion,respectively. Consequently, significantly more(or less) nificantlyif we apply a linear trendto the globalOH field. OH is requiredto restoretheagreement betweenthemodel The optimizedtrendindicatesan increaseof almost7% in results and the measurements. theglobalOH concentration overtheperiod1978-1993. Can The calculated trend in the OH concentration of 0.46% sucha trendbe explainedon the basisof reasonableassumpyr- • vanishes whentheemission trendis decreased. Alter- tions?To answerthis question,we analyzethe responseof natively, a trendof about1%year-• isfoundwhenthetrend the globalOH concentrationin our modelto severalpertur- KROLET AL.: OH TRENDFROMMETHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS 10,707 Table 6. Ensemble-Weighted Valuesfor/.XOH, OH trend,andAMCF, Obtainedfor the Four SensitivityRuns(See Text) and With the EmissionsUsed by Prinn et al. [19951 Run Table 5 1 2 3 AOH, % -4.8 -19.3 Trend,% yr-a q- 0.7 q- 0.8 0.46 q- 0.09 0.37 q- 0.10 +4.2 q- 0.7 -8.7 q- 0.7 0.44 q- 0.08 1.08 q- 0.08 4 -1.6 Prinn et al. [1995] -3.8 q- 0.8 q- 0.7 AMCF,% 5.5 q- 3.7 9.6 q- 2.8 1.6 q- 2.7 q- 0.07 9.0 q- 3.1 -1.5 q- 3.2 0.42 q- 0.10 3.3 q- 4.0 -0.11 The resultsobtainedin section3 are alsogiven. The valuesrefer to all stationsgrouped together.Uncertaintyrangesrefer to l rr. bations. It is not our goal here to make an independentes- Troposphericphotolysisrate perturbationsoccur predomitimate of the global OH changesbut to investigatewhich nantlyat higherlatitudesduringspring. factorsmighthavecontributedto a positivechangein OH. 4. Temperaturesin the model lower atmosphereare inFirst we calculatethe global OH concentrations by fixing creasedover the 1978-1993 periodby 0.2øC basedon metethe CHa and CO concentrations to the 1978 levels. Subse- orologicalobservations.Althoughit is very difficult to isoquently,the following six perturbations are applied. late the anthropogenic signalfrom the largenaturalvariabil1. The global mean CHa concentrationin the model is ity, thesetemperatureanomaliesare expectedto be at least increasedto that observedin 1993, i.e., from 1550 ppbv to partly causedby the global warming effect of increasing 1722 ppbv [Schimelet al., 1996]. It may be expectedthat greenhouse gases[Schimelet al., 1996]. Increasingtemperthis contributesto an OH reduction [Crutzen and Zimmer- aturesare expectedto be accompaniedby increasingwater mann, 1991]. vaporconcentrations, which are calculatedfrom the change 2. The globalCO concentrations in the model are reduced in water vapor saturationpressure. to those in 1993. Khalil and Rasmussen[1994] and Novelli 5. Water vapor increaseshave been observedover the et al. [1994] reporta rapid declineof atmosphericCO up to oceans,which may in part be due to increasingwind ve8% yr-• since1990. However,duringtheearly1980san locities [Nichollset al., 1996]. In fact, water vaporincreases increase of almost1%yr- • wasobserved in themidlatitude ashighas 13%decade -• havebeenobserved in thetropNH, while no trends could be detected in the SH [Zander ics [Gaffen et al., 1992], which is likely to be importantfor et al., 1989; Brunke et al., 1990]. In our sensitivitystudy OH formationthroughreactions(1) and (2). Here we apply we adopta globalCO decreaseof 6.5% overthe 1978-1993 period. 3. The photolysisrates are recalculatedto accountfor stratospheric ozonedepletion,henceincreasedUV penetration into the troposphereand consequentenhancementof OH throughreactions(1) and (2). The stratospheric ozone lossesobservedby the TOMS satelliteinstrument(version7 data) are usedto calculatelatitudinaland heightdependent trends in the photolysisrates [De Winter-Sorkina, 1997]. Table 7. Responsesof Global OH Concentrationsto Perturbations in the Model Perturbation(SeeText) OH Change,% 1 (11% CHa increase) 2 (6.5% CO decrease) 3 (stratospheric ozoneloss) -1.1 4 (0.2øCtemperature increase) +0.1 5 (10% tropicalH20 increase) 6 (10% NOx emissionincrease) 7 (simultaneous perturbation) +1.7 +1.7 +2.0 +2.0 +6.0 an overall 10% water vapor increasein the tropics(30øN30øS). 6. The modelOH levelsappearto be very sensitiveto the abundanceof NOx. IncreasingNOx enhancesboth the formationof ozoneand the recyclingof OH radicals[Van Dop and Krol, 1996; Eisele et al., 1997]. Since reportsof trends in troposphericozone concentrationsare sparseand sometimesambiguous[Logan, 1994], we prefernot to perturbthe calculated ozone field but rather the NOz emissions,increas- ing them by 10%. Table7 liststhe sensitivityof the global OH concentration to the variousperturbations.As notedpreviously[Van Dop and Krol, 1996], the atmosphericchemistry systemoften acts as a negativefeedbacksystemso that the responseto a perturbationis smaller than the perturbationitself. Nevertheless, we calculate that the small decrease in OH due to the CH4 increase(-1.1%) is overcompensated by OH increasesdue to higher photolysisrates (+2%), higher NOz emissions(+2%), decreasedCO, and increasedwater vapor (both +1.7%). The temperatureincreasehas only a minor effecton globalOH. When all perturbationslistedin Table7 are applied simultaneously,we calculatea 6% net OH increase, which is close to the value of 7% we estimated from the MCF simulations. 10,708 KROL ET AL.' OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM MEASUREMENTS It shouldbe noted,however,that only a few of the assumptions in thissensitivity studyarewell documented (e.g., the CH4 increaseandthe stratospheric ozoneloss). Others havea weakerexperimental basis(e.g.,theincreasein water vapor) and a potentiallylarge effect on the OH concentrations.Thereforetheperturbation calculations presented here shouldbe conceivedas a sensitivityanalysis.It shouldbe emphasized thatchanges in theglobalatmospheric compositionsince1978 are to a largeextentunknown.This is especiallytruefor themostimportantregionfor OH, thelower troposphere in thetropics.In thisregion,largechanges may be occurringdueto biomassburningandrapidlyemerging industrial activities. Nevertheless,it is shown here that ob- and measurements), differencesin the methodologymight giverise to differentresults.In particular,the functionalfit of both the measurements and the model simulations differs from the methoddescribedby Prinn et al. [ 1995]. Finally,the calculatedOH distributionis a possiblecause of the differences.Whereasin the Prinn et al. [ 1995] model more OH is presentin the SH, our tropospheric chemistry modelcalculatesmoreOH in theNH dueto the higherNO:• and03 levels,consistent with previousestimates[e.g.,Crutzen and Zimmermann,1991]. It is unlikely, however,that differences in the OH distribution influence the calculated OH trend. The consistencyof the trendscalculatedfor all ALE/GAGE measurement stations indicates an OH increase servedchangesin theatmospheric composition, in combina- on a global scale. Therefore it seemsthat the downward tion with somereasonable assumptions, areconsistent with trend sincethe start of industrialization[e.g., Crutzenand Zimmermann,1991] may have reversedsincethe past sevsignificantincreases in OH overthepastdecades. eral decades. 6. Discussion The resultsthatarepresented heredifferin somerespects from thoseof Prinn et al. [1995]. The lower atmospheric lifetime (200-1000 hPa)of MCF givenby Prinn et al. [ 1995] equals4.6 + 0.3 years,which agreeswell with our estimate (1000-100 hPa,4.7 yearsin 1978, 4.5 yearsin 1993, and 1oerror due to emissionuncertaintyof 0.1 year). Prinn et al. [1995]reporta trendin OH of0.0 q-0.2%yr-l, whereas we constrained theOH trendto therangebetween-0.1 and 1.1% 7. Summary and Conclusions An ensemble(Monte Carlo) techniquewasusedto obtain a bestestimatefor the globalOH concentration and for the linear trend in OH between 1978 and 1993, simulated with a three-dimensional transportmodelfor the troposphere.The OH fieldswere adoptedfrom a modelsimulationwith backgroundCH4-CO-NO•-HO• chemistry. The monthly averagedOH fieldswere adjusteduntil a bestfit with the mea- yr-1 witha mostlikelyvalueof 0.46%yr-1. Thisrange surements was obtained. was obtainedby adjustingthe emissiontrend. It is difficult to unambiguouslyestablishthe causeof the differences,but severalpossiblereasonscan be mentioned. One possiblecause is related to the model resolution. Prinn et al. [1995] resolvethe atmosphereinto 12 boxes. The OH concentrations in theboxesshouldthereforebe representativefor a very large domain. The OH concentration may vary considerablywith longitude,for instancedue to NO•: emissionsand watervaporvariability[Kanakidouand also determined. Crutzen, 1993; Kanakidou et al., 1995]. Moreover, most MCF emissionsare accompanied by NO•: emissions,which might lead to a positivecorrelationbetweenOH and MCF. Also, the ALE/GAGE stationsusuallysamplecleanbackgroundair. In the model of Prinn et al. [ 1995] thesemeasurementsare comparedto the concentrationsin semihemisphericboxes,in whichtheMCF emissions alsotakeplace. Anotherpossiblecausemay be associatedwith the treatment of stratosphericMCF breakdown. In our model, stratospheric MCF lossesare appliedat the •top of the model. These losses are calculated on the basis of two- dimensionalmodel calculations[Kanakidou et al., 1995]. Prinn et al. [ 1995] explicitlyrepresentthe stratosphere, althoughcrudely resolved. The MCF destructionrate in the stratosphere, as well as the the stratosphere-troposphere exchangetime, appearto significantlyaffecttheMCF lifetime. A third causemay be the estimationtechnique. Prinn et al. [ 1995] usean optimalestimationinversiontechnique to obtainthe MCF lifetime and its linear trend. Although our methodshould,in principle,givecomparableresults(it also minimizes the differences between model simulations A linear trend in the OH field was Ratherfast convergence was obtainedwith the ensemble technique.However,it appearedthat the choiceof the initial random distributions from which the random variables (trend,AOH) are drawnis very critical. A positive trendin OH of 0.46 q- 0.6% yr-1 wascalculated(full range error). We deducedthat he lifetime of MCF in the troposphere(1000-100 hPa) has changedfrom 4.7+0.1 years in 1978 to 4.5q-0.1 years in 1993 (lo-error includesonly the uncertaintyin emissions). The correspondingglobal mean OH number densitiesindicateincreasesfrom 1.... nn+0.00 0.15x 106molecules cm-3 in 1978to 1.... •-/+0.09 o.• X 106 molecules cm-a in 1993.Thecalculated methanelifetime due to destructionby OH in the samedo- main(1000-100 hPa)decreases froma •+•.•8 yearsin 1978 -•.z-,_0. to 8"-'-{3.8 fi+•.6yearsin 1993 Theerrors nowalsoinclude the uncertainties in the stratospheric andoceanMCF sinks.The errorrangeadoptedfor theMCF lifetimedueto stratospheric loss (50+25 years) is particularly large and leads to relatively large uncertaintiesin the OH numberdensityand methanelifetime. These error rangesare thereforeconsidered to be full rangeerrors. The estimated OH trend is sensitive to the trend in MCF emissionestimates.If the trendis perturbedby -4.4% at the startof the simulationand by +4.4% at the end of the sim- ulation,thecalculated OH trendincreases to 1.! % yr-•. If the trendis perturbedin the oppositedirection,however,the calculated trend vanishes. This indicates that the OH trend calculationdependscriticallyon the appliedMCF emission trend. Simplebox model calculationssupportthis conclu- KROL ET AL.' OH TREND FROM METHYLCHLOROFORM measurement and is consistent for all stations. 10,709 One is generallynotinterested in thecompleteprobability sion. The estimatedtrend in OH is expectedto be insensitive to other model uncertainties MEASUREMENTS densityf(qJId), but only in its firstfew moments.These can be obtainedby usinga frequencyinterpretationof the probability densityf (q;).Forinstance, theminimalvariance estimate of f(qJId) is themeanof thisprobability density, The optimizedOH trend suggeststhereforea global increasein OH of almost7% over the period 1978-1993. A sensitivityanalysiswith our globalchemistrymodel shows givenby thatreasonableassumptions aboutglobalemissionestimates andthemodelboundaryconditionsareconsistent with a sig- N •i=x •'if(dl•i) • - ff •Pf(•P)f(dI•P)&P f (•P)f (dl•P)&P nificant increasein OH. Prinn et al. [1995] estimateda zero (A3) trendin OH overthe sameperiod. Sincewe usedthe same emission data, the different results must be due to the mod- Its variance can be obtained as eling approach.Other inversemodelingstudieson the MCF data are requiredbefore definiteconclusionsabout an OH trend can be drawn. 2_ O'½ -- Ei51 f(d•bi) (A4) This frequencydescriptionof the first two momentsof f(bld) is obtained fromanensemble of N modelrunsin a Appendix: Ensemble Method The data-assimilation Monte Carlo simulation. Returning to thespecific examplediscussed in thispaper, method used here is a so-called en- (A3), (A4), and(A2) correspond to equations (8), semblesmoother.The lifetime of MCF is about 4.5 years. equations Therefore,the present-dayMCF concentrationdependson (9) and (11) in section2.3. the OH concentrationof the past few years. A smoother Acknowledgments.We thankSanderHouwelingandFrank methodis an inversemethodthat accountsfor this dependence. An ensemble method uses statistical Monte Carlo Dentenerfor their helpful advice and Maria Kanakidoufor the oceanicMCF removalcode. We thankRonPrinnandXuepeng methodsto estimatetheprobabilitydensityof themodelevo- Zhao for providingtheir MCF emissionsestimates.We thank the lution. CarbonDioxideInformationAnalysisCenterfor the ALE/GAGE Van Leeuwen and Evensen [1996] showed that data as- similationessentiallycombinesthe probability densitiesof a model and measurement data [see also Tarantola, 1987; MCF measurements. Thisresearch wassupported by SpaceResearch Organization Netherlands. P.J.vanLeeuwenwassupported by theNationalResearch Program(NOP II) grant951237. Lorenc,1988]. The resultingprobabilitydensitycontainsinformation about both the model and the data. The essential References point is that measurementdataare not consideredasisolated pointsdefiningthe "truth"butasa particularrealizationfrom Bekki, S., K. S. Law, and J. A. 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