Intercomparison of Chemical Multiphase Box Models

It has been recognized for several decades that chemical processes in clouds and fogs can substantially alter atmospheric oxidant budgets and lead to aerosol mass formation. However, many current regional and global models do not include detailed aqueous-phase chemical mechanisms due to the lack of complete understanding of the underlying chemical processes, but also due to the computational burden of adding more constituents. The cloud chemistry community has begun an effort in connection with the Whiteface Mountain Observatory in New York to sample a suite of chemical compounds in cloud water and to evaluate and compare the state of knowledge of current gas-aqueous chemistry 0-dimensional models. Using the 17-18 September 2016 cloud event at Whiteface Mountain Observatory for input data, a cloud chemistry box model intercomparison was conducted. The focus of the intercomparison was on the predicted oxidant levels in both the gas and aqueous phases and on the formation of sulfate and secondary organic aerosol mass via aqueous-phase chemistry. We will present model results from the model intercomparison participants and discuss commonalities and reasons for differences in predicted concentrations of various chemical species in both phases. The conclusions of this workshop include a ranking of the importance of chemical (e.g., number of chemical species and processes), microphysical (e.g., cloud parameters) and meteorological (e.g., vertical mixing) parameters. An outlook will be given with recommendations on the most suitable multiphase chemical mechanism and essential parameters that should be derived from field measurements in order to improve the current state of chemical multiphase modules in models of various scales.