OpenIFS/AC: atmospheric chemistry and aerosol in OpenIFS 43r3

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the first implementation of atmospheric chemistry and aerosol as part of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) OpenIFS model. OpenIFS is a portable version of ECMWF's global numerical weather prediction model. Modules and input data for model cycle CY43R3, which have been developed as part of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), have been ported to OpenIFS with the modified CB05 tropospheric chemistry scheme, the bulk bin tropospheric aerosol module, and the option to use Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE)-based stratospheric ozone chemistry. We give an overview of the model, and describe the datasets used for emissions and dry deposition, which are similar to those used in the model configuration applied to create the CAMS reanalysis. We evaluate two reference model configurations with and without the stratospheric chemistry extension against standard observational datasets for tropospheric ozone, surface carbon monoxide (CO), tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and aerosol optical depth. The results give basic confidence in the model implementation and configuration. This OpenIFS version with atmospheric composition components is open to the scientific user community under a standard OpenIFS license.