Ocean Impacts on Irish Climate - NUI Galway...simulation, using ERA-40 analysis data with observed...

978-0-9553862-1-3 0-9553862-1-7

Surface Ocean – Lower Atmosphere Studies Ireland

Edited by

Colin O’Dowd

Environmental Change Institute & Department of Physics

National University of Ireland, Galway

Proceedings of 1st Irish SOLAS Workshop

Colin O'Dowd

Stamp

SOLAS – Ireland 1st National Report 2005

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary 1

2. The Goals of SOLAS 2

3. Integrating Objective of SOLAS Ireland 4

4. List of Attendees of 1st SOLAS Ireland workshop 5

5. List of workshop presentations 6

6. Research Summary: Ocean Impacts on Irish Climate 7

Regional Climate Modelling of Impacts of Marine Aerosols 8

Marine Hydrodynamics Modelling 9

Ocean Dynamics 10

Marine Biota: Algae-Atmosphere Interactions and Feedback on Climate 11

Atmospheric Chemistry Simulation Chamber 13

Measurements of Primary Marine Aerosol Fluxes at Mace Head 15

Mace Head as a SOLAS Research Facility 16

Marine Aerosol Production from Primary and Secondary Natural Sources (MAP) 17


1. Executive Summary

The 1st Irish SOLAS meeting was held in National University of Ireland, Galway on April 5th 2005. The objective of the meeting was to bring together the Irish scientific research communities relevant to SOLAS objectives; to consolidate our ocean-atmosphere research into an Irish SOLAS framework; and to serve as a platform to generate awareness of related research across different disciplines. The meeting demonstrated Ireland’s capabilities in marine biogeochemistry, ocean dynamics, atmospheric physics and chemistry, and marine meteorology. The oceanic and atmospheric observing capability and large-scale modelling systems already enabled in ocean and atmospheric modelling was also demonstrated. It was concluded that Irish researchers are well poised to contribute significantly to SOLAS-related key process studies which would underpin the future development of an integrating large-scale ocean-atmosphere-climate modelling system for use in both quantitative and predictive purposes in a cross- and multi-disciplinary manner, integrating biological, chemical and physical processes essential to understanding the effect of natural systems on future climate change.

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2. The Goal of SOLAS

SOLAS (Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study) is a new international research initiative that has as its goal:

To achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeo-chemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere, and of how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change. The scope of the study is illustrated in Figure 1 and described in detail in this Science Plan and Implementation Strategy. The Science Plan parts of this document are largely based on the results of the International SOLAS Open Science Meeting held in Damp, near Kiel, Germany in February 2000 which involved more than 250 scientists from 22 different countries. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (CACGP) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) have approved SOLAS and are sponsors of it.

Figure 1: The Scope of SOLAS

Figure 2: Key Processes in the ocean-atmospheric system

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Figure 3: SOLAS Structure

Figure 4: Research foci in SOLAS

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3. Integrating objective of SOLAS – Ireland

To advance our understanding of key biological, chemical and physical processes in the surface-ocean and lower atmosphere and to integrated these key processes into an Integrative Predictive and Quantification System.

Within Ireland, there is the expertise available in the areas of marine botany, ocean dynamics, air-sea exchange, atmospheric physics and chemistry, observational and operational forecasting modelling to develop a state-of-the-art predictive and quantification system, underpinned by advanced key process understanding in order to advance the goals of SOLAS. The focus of this system will be the North East Atlantic region around Ireland (see schematic in Figure 5).

Figure 5: Integrated ocean-atmospheric modelling and observing system for North Atlantic Region

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4. List of Attendees of 1st SOLAS Ireland workshop

SOLAS (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Studies) Workshop Boardroom, Martin Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Attended:

Peter Liss, University of East Angia UK (International SOLAS Committee Chair)

Frank McGovern Environmental Protection Agency Ireland Colin O’Dowd National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland

(ACCENT Aerosols: Air Quality & Climate Joint Research Programme Coordinator)

Gerry Jennings National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland Aodhogan O’Roddy National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland (Chair Irish Committee on Climate Change)

Saji Verghase National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland Gerrit de Leeuw TNO, The Netherlands (International SOLAS Committee Member)

Ray McGrath Met Eireann Ireland (C4I Project Leader)

Dagmar Stengel National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland Mike Hartnett National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland Emer Colleran National University of Ireland, Galway Ireland (Director ECI)

Glenn Nolan Marine Institute Ireland Gary Crawley Science Foundation Ireland Ireland

Jeremy Gault University College Cork Ireland

Acronymns ACCENT Atmospheric Composition & Change – A European Network of

Excellence C4I Community Climate Change Consortium for Ireland SOLAS Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Studies GEMS Global Monitoring for Environment and Security GEO Global Earth Observing GEOSS Global Observing System of Systems MAP Marine Aerosol Production (from natural sources). ECI Environmental Change Institute MRI Martin Ryan (Marine Science) Institure SFI Science Foundation of Ireland. RFP Research Frontiers Programme

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5. List of workshop presentations

5th April 2005

Chaired by S. Gerard Jennings

Agenda

Introduction & International Context

10:00-10:15 Introduction, Aims & Objectives Colin O’Dowd 10:15-10:45 SOLAS International and UK SOLAS Peter Liss 10:45-11:00 Overview of GMES/GEO Frank McGovern 11:00-11:10 Overview of EU-funded Project MAP Colin O’Dowd 11:10-11:25 GEOSS Product development under SOLAS Gerrit de Leeuw 11:25-11:45 Coffee

Irish Activities 11:45-12:00 Ocean impacts on Irish Climate Ray McGrath 12:00-12:15 Marine biota and feedback Dagmar Stengel

& MRI facilities 12:15-12:30 Environmental Change Institute Emer Colleran 12:30-12:45 Marine modelling Michael Hartnett 12:45-12:55 HIPOCAS (FP5) Jeremy Gault 12:45-13:45 Lunch

SOLAS related facilities in Ireland 13:45-13:55 Atmospheric observations Frank McGovern/ Gerry Jennings 13:55-14:10 Marine observing systems Glenn Nolan Development of an Irish Programme 14:10-14:25 Current and Future strategy for the Research Frontiers Programme Gary Crawley 14:25-14:45 Irish component of SOLAS: The next step Colin O’Dowd 15:00-16:00 Round table discussion SFI, EPA, MI, NUIG, ME

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Ocean Impacts on Irish Climate Ray McGrath & Tido Semmler C4I Project (Community Climate Change Consortium for Ireland) Met Éireann Research Group The Community Climate Change Consortium for Ireland (C4I) Project was established in 2003. The project is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (under the National Development Plan), Met Éireann, Sustainable Energy Ireland and the Higher Education Authority; it is also linked to and supported by the CosmoGrid project, funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) administered by the Higher Education Authority under the National Development Plan and with partial support from the European Regional Development Fund. The partners in C4I are University College Dublin and Met Éireann. Objectives The main objective for C4I is to consolidate and intensify the national effort in climate change research by building a capability for carrying out regional climate modelling in Ireland and providing assistance to Irish scientists utilizing climate model output for their analyses. Research Work (see http://www.c4i.ie for details) The past (1961-2000) and future (2021-2060) climate of Ireland have been simulated by dynamically downscaling the outputs from global models (GCMs) using a regional climate model. The sensitivity of the climate to sea surface temperature has been investigated by running a 16-year simulation, using ERA-40 analysis data with observed SST and with the SST fields increased by a flat 1° C. In cooperation with NUIG work has begun on porting an aerosol and chemical transport model into the climate model.

Figure 1 Simulated Atlantic hurricane using enhanced SST.

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Regional Climate Modelling of Impacts of Marine Aerosols Saji Varghese & Colin O’Dowd Department of Physics & Environmental Change Institute National University of Ireland, Galway. Climate change will induce changes in production of trace gases (eg. DMS) and particles (sea salt) formed due to air-sea interactions. The alterations in these quantities affect the radiation balance - the formation of cloud condensation nuclei affects the cloud formation which in turn determines the cloud cover and albedo. Variations in the fluxes of iron and nitrogen will have an impact on the marine phytoplankton production and activity. Another important factor that will determine future climate change would be the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide. To have a detail understanding of the cause and effect of the various parameters in a climate change scenario, it is important to carry out climate modeling studies, particularly in a regional sense whereby the regions of interest can be zoomed to greater detail. Moreover, some of the large scale atmospheric-ocean phenomena can only be understood and characterized by modelling studies. Here we use an atmospheric Regional Climate Model (RCA3) which is a development of the High Resolution Limited Area Model (HIRLAM) for our simulations. It is a hydrostatic grid point model with a rotated grid. The domain extends from North Atlantic ocean to west of Russia and Scandinavian countries in the north to north of Africa. It has a horizontal resolution of 0.15 degrees , 326 X 256 grid points in the horizontal and 40 in the vertical.

NUIG is implementing state-of-the-art aerosol-cloud-chemistry modules in RCA. Initial focus is on marine aerosol impacts, and in particular, sea-spray aerosol. Sea-spray plays an important role in the marine boundary layer. It acts as cloud condensation nuclei, influences humidity and temperature profiles, enhances chemical reactions and scatters light. Preliminary experiments were carried out with sea-spray source functions which were validated against experimental results. Figure1 shows the sub-micron sea spray concentration after 3 hours of simulation over the N. Atlantic. It also indicates a strong dependency on wind speed. Concentrations are quite large in regions of high windspeeds.

Figure 1. Sea-spray aerosol concentration using the Geever et al (2005) flux

National. University of Ireland, Galway

Ollscoil na hEireann, Gaillimh

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Marine Hydrodynamics Modelling Michael Hartnett Marine Modelling Centre, Martin Ryan Institute National University of Ireland Galway The Marine Modelling Centre is located in the Martin Ryan Institute for Marine Science, NUI Galway. The Centre was founded to consolidate marine modelling research at NUI Galway. Research in the Centre is concerned with many aspects of ocean and coastal processes, including:

• Ocean hydrodynamics • Coastal hydrodynamics • Atmospheric forcing • Climate change

• Nutrient cycling • Phytoplankton production • Biological processes

Currently the Centre sustains 2 post-docs and 4 PhD students. Three permanent members of staff are actively engaged in running the centre and supervising this research. Modelling activities are carried out at various scales, ranging from coastal inlets to the North East Atlantic Basin. The Centre has its own High Performance Computer and all major models have been developed to run on this system.

One of our main projects, and of particular relevance to SOLAS, is the development of a 4km-grid model of the North East Atlantic Basin, the western boundary is at approximately 250W (see figure above). This model is being developed to run on the

High Performance Computer at NUI Galway with internet access. The first stage of this project is to accurately predict water circulation in the domain; the model will then be developed to simulate nutrient cycling and primary/secondary production. We are also currently using the model for detailed climate change analysis in the NE Atlantic. This

model will need an accurate representation of ocean-atmosphere interactions, in particular, atmospheric nutrient deposition fluxes, solar radiation, light conditions and rainfall. Thus, the research activities at the Marine Modelling Centre are of direct and significant relevance to SOLAS. We are keen to develop future models integrating atmospheric and marine processes.

Figure 1. Domain of North East Atlantic Model



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Regional Climate Modelling of Impacts of Marine Aerosols Saji Varghese & Colin O’Dowd Department of Physics & Environmental Change Institute National University of Ireland, Galway. Climate change will induce changes in production of trace gases (eg. DMS) and particles (sea salt) formed due to air-sea interactions. The alterations in these quantities affect the radiation balance - the formation of cloud condensation nuclei affects the cloud formation which in turn determines the cloud cover and albedo. Variations in the fluxes of iron and nitrogen will have an impact on the marine phytoplankton production and activity. Another important factor that will determine future climate change would be the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide. To have a detail understanding of the cause and effect of the various parameters in a climate change scenario, it is important to carry out climate modeling studies, particularly in a regional sense whereby the regions of interest can be zoomed to greater detail. Moreover, some of the large scale atmospheric-ocean phenomena can only be understood and characterized by modelling studies. Here we use an atmospheric Regional Climate Model (RCA3) which is a development of the High Resolution Limited Area Model (HIRLAM) for our simulations. It is a hydrostatic grid point model with a rotated grid. The domain extends from North Atlantic ocean to west of Russia and Scandinavian countries in the north to north of Africa. It has a horizontal resolution of 0.15 degrees , 326 X 256 grid points in the horizontal and 40 in the vertical.

NUIG is implementing state-of-the-art aerosol-cloud-chemistry modules in RCA. Initial focus is on marine aerosol impacts, and in particular, sea-spray aerosol. Sea-spray plays an important role in the marine boundary layer. It acts as cloud condensation nuclei, influences humidity and temperature profiles, enhances chemical reactions and scatters light. Preliminary experiments were carried out with sea-spray source functions which were validated against experimental results. Figure1 shows the sub-micron sea spray concentration after 3 hours of simulation over the N. Atlantic. It also indicates a strong dependency on wind speed. Concentrations are quite large in regions of high windspeeds.

Figure 1. Sea-spray aerosol concentration using the Geever et al (2005) flux



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Marine Biota - algal-atmosphere interactions and feedback on climate Dagmar Stengel Department of Botany, Martin Ryan Institute and Environmental Change Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway SOLAS research focuses on improving the quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedback between the ocean and the atmosphere, and their interactions with climate and environmental change. With marine biogenic (algal) emissions contributing significantly to the natural production of greenhouse gases and their precursors, marine algal research has a key role to play in contributing to our understanding of the key processes and fluxes of aerosol emissions.

Both intertidal and subtidal macroalgae (seaweeds), as well as marine microalgae (phytoplankton and biofilms) in coastal and off-shore environments are known to contribute significantly to the production of biogenic DMS (DMSP) and halocarbons. In particular, during exposure to biotic and abiotic stresses such as extreme and fluctuating irradiances, temperatures, nutrients, salinities, grazer and viral attack, biogenic bursts of aerosols have been observed. The mechanisms involved in their production and the triggers that stimulate their release into the atmosphere (or the sea) are largely unknown, with some contradictory observations reported for different algal species. In addition, strong seasonal, diurnal and tidal fluctuations, clearly related to environmental fluctuations, have been measured. A large gap exists in the understanding of interactive effects of environmental parameters, which need to be assessed quantitatively under ambient natural and predicted global change scenarios to provide reliable baseline data for improved climate modelling. In addition, responses of algae to global change are currently largely undescribed. Isolated effect of single environmental factors associated with global change (e.g. temperature, CO2, radiation) are poorly understood, and their combined effects can currently not be predicted. Metabolic and physiological adaptations that are likely to occur in response to global change, will in turn have feedback effects on the climate.

Current marine research in the Martin Ryan Institute (MRI) relevant to SOLAS is centred in three MRI research groups, Aquatic Plant Science (D. Stengel), Marine Modelling (M. Hartnett) and Marine Microbiology (R. Raine/J. Patching). Researchers in Aquatic Plant Science in particular have expertise in algal ecology and physiology, and specialise in research related to environment-algal interactions focussing on the assessment of algal stress due to environmental impacts (stress physiology). Recent research has concentrated on the monitoring of algal responses to environmental stresses such as irradiance (PAR, UV), temperature, eutrophication, desiccation, heavy metal contamination and combinations thereof. Parameters routinely assessed due to their indicative value for primary productivity and environmental stress, include O2-evolution, chla fluorescence, pigmentation, antioxidant activity, osmo-solutes and phenol contents and exudation. Future, collaborative research at NUIG in the SOLAS context will include the assessment of aerosol formation potential of different macro- and microalgal species in specifically designed algal emission programmes. Research will concentrate on the quantification of emissions from selected macro- and microalgae in cultivation and in situ, and evaluate the relative contributions of environmental factors in the control of algal emissions.

MRI facilities and infrastructure relevant to SOLAS research include essential expertise in algal physiology, research laboratories for algal manipulation and experimentation, including outstations at Finavarra (Co. Clare) and MRI Carna (Connemara, Co. Galway), which are ideal to complement collaborative research at Mace Head. Established links exist between the MRI and the ECI through a wide range of collaborative and interdisciplinary recent and current research projects.



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40

60

80

100

A. nodosum

F. serrratus

L. digitata

Fv/Fm during dehydration

Time (min)

% o

f ini

tial F

v/Fm

Figure 1. Chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) as an indicator of species-specific responses to environmental stress.

Figure 2. Experimental exposure of the fucoid Ascophyllum nodosum to different environmental conditions.

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Atmospheric Chemistry Simulation Chamber John Sodeau, John Wenger Department of Chemistry & Environmental Research Institute University College Cork

• in situ FTIR spectroscopy

• NOx and O3 analysers

• GC, GC-MS

• gas phase degradation

• OH, NO3, O3, Cl, photolysis

• kinetics and mechanisms

• new particle formation

Aerosol Flow Reactor

•Designed for studies of the interactions of gaseous species with aerosols

• An aerosol generator is used to produce aerosols of desired composition e.g.ammonium bisulfate, sulfuric acid

• FTIR spectroscopy is used to determine the extent of interaction between selected gases and the aerosol

•The aerosol fraction is monitored downstream by a scanning mobility particle sizer

Additional Instrumentation

• High volume PM sampler

• Ion chromatography

• ICP-AES

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Measurements of Primary Marine Aerosol Fluxes at Mace Head. Michael Geever, Colin O’Dowd and Robert Flanagan. Department of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway, A significant fraction of the marine aerosol population consists of particles produced by sea spray formed from bursting bubbles in oceanic whitecaps. This primary marine aerosol source contributes to the direct and indirect radiative forcing due to aerosols. Sea-salt particles thus produced influence the microphysical and radiative properties of clouds by controlling cloud formation and albedo, and also influence the atmospheric sulphur cycle by dominating the oxidation of SO2 in the marine boundary layer. To include this important aerosol source in climate models, accurate estimates and parameterisations of the primary marine aerosol flux are required. Earlier measurements by Smith et al. (1993), which estimated the supermicron sea-salt flux and largely ignored the contribution from sub-micron sizes, found a strong dependence on wind speed. More recent measurements made by Nilsson et al. (2001), which focussed on the sub-micron size range, also found that the source flux is a strong function of wind speed. The results presented here include particle sizes > 10nm diameter and show a strong wind speed dependence, which suggests a wind-driven source of primary marine aerosol at this mid-latitude location. An instrument package consisting of a sonic anemometer (Gill, Windmaster Pro), a Condensation Particle Counter (TSI, model 3760) and an Optical Particle Counter/Spectrometer (PMS, ASASP-X) was deployed at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station (53o 20’ N, 9o 54’ W) in May, 2002. The instruments were located on top of a 20m tower positioned approximately 50m from the rocky shoreline. The sonic anemometer and sample inlets were attached to a horizontal boom extending about 1.5m over the west-facing side of the tower platform directed towards the open ocean in order to minimise flow distortion effects caused by the tower structure. Both the CPC and OPC sampled air from a common 30mm diameter inlet, which conveyed air in turbulent flow to avoid damping artefacts associated with laminar flow in sampling tubes. The data records were recorded at 10 Hz from the sonic anemometer and CPC and at 1 Hz from the OPC. Analysis of the data using the eddy covariance (EC) technique yielded half-hour means of net vertical turbulent aerosol fluxes and various other micrometeorological parameters. Deposition velocities over the measured size range were calculated and the total dry deposition obtained. Adding the measured net aerosol flux to the calculated dry deposition produced an estimate of the total source flux (F), which was then correlated with the horizontal macroscopic wind speed (U).

Figure 1. Net flux of sub-micron sea-spray aerosol derived from eddy covariance measurements.



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Mace Head as a SOLAS Research Facility Gerard Jennings & Colin O’Dowd Department of Physics & Environmental Change Institute National University of Ireland, Galway.

• GAW site O3, CO, Greenhouse Gases, CFCs, HCFCs. • Aerosol physics, chemistry and fluxes. • Synoptic Weather Station – through Met Eireann • Data Archival: Greenhouse gases and CFC’s WDCGG, Tokyo • Aerosols archived at NILU & JRC and in house • Webcasting and visualisation of real time data • http://macehead.nuigalway.ie • International Process Studies (PARFOROCE, QUEST, MAP, NAMBLEX, ACSOE)



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Marine Aerosol Production from Primary and Secondary Natural Sources (MAP) Colin O’Dowd Department of Physics & Environmental Change Institute National University of Ireland, Galway. (http://macehead.nuigalway.ie/map)



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