Development of an adjoint model of GRAPES–CUACE and its application in tracking influential haze source areas in north China

Abstract. The aerosol adjoint module of the atmospheric chemical modeling system GRAPES–CUACE (Global–Regional Assimilation and Prediction System coupled with the CMA Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment) is constructed based on the adjoint theory. This includes the development and validation of the tangent linear and the adjoint models of the three parts involved in the GRAPES–CUACE aerosol module: CAM (Canadian Aerosol Module), interface programs that connect GRAPES and CUACE, and the aerosol transport processes that are embedded in GRAPES. Meanwhile, strict mathematical validation schemes for the tangent linear and the adjoint models are implemented for all input variables. After each part of the module and the assembled tangent linear and adjoint models is verified, the adjoint model of the GRAPES–CUACE aerosol is developed and used in a black carbon (BC) receptor–source sensitivity analysis to track influential haze source areas in north China.

The sensitivity of the average BC concentration over Beijing at the highest concentration time point (referred to as the Objective Function) is calculated with respect to the BC amount emitted over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Four types of regions are selected based on the administrative division or the sensitivity coefficient distribution. The adjoint sensitivity results are then used to quantify the effect of reducing the emission sources at different time intervals over different regions. It is indicated that the more influential regions (with relatively larger sensitivity coefficients) do not necessarily correspond to the administrative regions. Instead, the influence per unit area of the sensitivity selected regions is greater. Therefore, controlling the most influential regions during critical time intervals based on the results of the adjoint sensitivity analysis is much more efficient than controlling administrative regions during an experimental time period.