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Effects of cosmic-ray–induced ion chemistry on upper-tropospheric ozone and water vapor over East Asia
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DOI：10.1007/s11430-025-1961-1.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Tropospheric ozone is jointly affected by anthropogenic activity and climate variability. However, the influence of cosmic rays on ozone through chemical reactions triggered by atmospheric ionization is not fully understood. Using observations of sunspot number and cosmic rays, this study incorporates a cosmic-ray-driven negative-ion chemical mechanism into the regional climate-chemistry-ecology coupled model RegCM-Chem-YIBs and quantifies the effects of cosmic rays on upper-tropospheric ozone and water vapor during a high-cosmic-ray year (2009) and a low-cosmic-ray year (2000). Investigations show that: (1) cosmic-ray is negatively correlated with solar activity, and the electron concentration produced by ionization in the high-cosmic-ray year is 14% higher than that in the low-cosmic-ray year; (2) negative-ion chemistry has a stronger influence on ozone and water vapor in the high-cosmic-ray year, with the largest response occurring in summer: ozone loss at 250 hPa reaches −8 ppbv, and the maximum increase in specific humidity of 18×10−5 kg kg−1, whereas in winter, ozone loss is only 25% of that in summer, and the increase in water vapor is less than 10% of the summer value; (3) in the upper troposphere (200–400 hPa), the maximum ozone loss in the high-cosmic-ray year is 1.1–3.4 times that in the low-cosmic-ray year, and the maximum increase in specific humidity is 2.7–4.2 times larger; and (4) over East Asia in summer, the regional-mean relative changes in ozone and specific humidity at 250 hPa are −0.30% and +1.30%, respectively, in the high-cosmic-ray year, corresponding to 2.5 and 1.5 times the low-cosmic-ray-year values. These findings clarify the magnitude and mechanism by which cosmic rays modulate upper-tropospheric ozone and water vapor through ion chemistry, and provide a basis for assessing the contribution of natural external forcing to atmospheric composition and climate variability.
Keywords:
Cosmic rays
Tropospheric ozone
Water vapor
Ion chemistry
Regional climate-chemistry-ecology coupled model
RegCM-Chem-YIBs
Journal
IF:
5.8
Papers:
3.1K
Citations:
1.1W
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