Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

With the advent of increasing computer power atmospheric models can be run at higher and higher resolution, and with careful analysis they can reveal new insights of physical and chemical processes occurring in the atmosphere. The goal of this work is to use complex multiscale 3D models to study of the atmosphere of Mars at regional scale, to study regional climate change for Ontario, and to investigate processes such as convection and exchange of air between the troposphere and stratosphere in a particularly sensitive climate region, the UTLS (upper troposphere and lower stratosphere): this is the region where the Earth's atmosphere radiates to space. he underlying model that we use is the Canadian weather forecast model (GEM) of Environment Canada, with its speed and impressive modelling capabilities. For Mars we will use the model to analyse results from the MATMOS and SOIR-NOMAD instruments on the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter (MTGO) for which the launch is planned for 2016.We also plan to use high resolution (mesoscale) modelling for regional climate change studies with a focus on Ontario and environs around the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes play a major role in the weather and climate of this region and we plan to expand our investigations and address the impact of lake models. The UT is an important region associated with climate change as it is the region where the troposphere cools to space. It is our premise that high resolution modelling, combined with satellite and aircraft in-situ measurements will reveal new understanding of processes in this region which will improve process representation in weather and climate models. We are entering an era where chemical weather forecasting as well as weather forecasting is now feasible. Thus it will be especially important for Canadian to have access to models of the type that we are developing that can both utilize the data for understanding sources and sinks of emissions and for forecasting. The student training will be import in maintaining Canada's capacity and leadership in weather, climate and air quality modelling. This is ever more important in an era of climate change and its impact on the global and Canadian environment.