Evaluating modelled tropospheric columns of CH4, CO and O3 in the Arctic using ground-based FTIR measurements

Both measurements and modelling of air pollution in the Arctic are difficult. Yet with the Arctic warming at nearly four times the global average rate, and changing emissions in and near the region, it is important to understand Arctic atmospheric composition and how it is changing. This study examines the simulations of atmospheric concentrations of methane, carbon monoxide and ozone in the Arctic by 11 models. Evaluations are performed using data from five high-latitude ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers in the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). Mixing ratios of trace gases are modelled at three-hourly intervals by CESM, CMAM, DEHM, EMEP MSC-W, GEM-MACH, GEOS-Chem, MATCH, MATCH-SALSA, MRI-ESM2, UKESM1 and WRF-Chem for the years 2008, 2009, 2014, and 2015. The comparisons focus on the troposphere (0–7 km partial columns) at Eureka, Canada; Thule, Greenland; Ny Ålesund, Norway; Kiruna, Sweden; and Harestua, Norway. Overall, the models are biased low in the tropospheric column, on average by -9.6 % for CH4, -21 % for CO and -18 % for O3. Results for CH4 are relatively consistent across the four years, whereas CO has a maximum negative bias in the spring and minimum in the summer, and O3 has a maximum difference centred around the summer. The average differences for the models are within the FTIR uncertainties for approximately 15 % of the model-location comparisons.