AerChemMIP2 – unraveling the role of reactive gases, aerosol particles, and land use for air quality and climate change in CMIP7

Phase 2 of the Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP2) is a registered model intercomparison project (MIP) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 7 (CMIP7). The focus of AerChemMIP2 is the quantification of the atmospheric composition, biogeochemical feedbacks, air quality and climate responses to changes in emissions of chemically reactive gases, aerosol particles, and land use. AerChemMIP2 aims to facilitate a better understanding of their relative contributions to changes in atmospheric composition, radiative forcing, and the climate response and feedbacks from the pre-industrial period to the present day and for projected future emission pathways. Some experiments from the first phase of AerChemMIP are requested in the second phase to track changes in the results of CMIP7 compared to phase six of CMIP. New experiments in AerChemMIP2 open scientific opportunities to address knowledge gaps and persistent uncertainties. Specifically, AerChemMIP2 requests experiments (1) to assess the dependence of effective radiative forcing for aerosols on the fidelity of resolved processes and the simulated base climate, (2) to provide first estimates of forcing for hydrogen and individual volatile organic compounds in the context of CMIP, (3) to enable studies on non-linearity in the Earth system response, (4) to understand the response of wild fires to historical forcings, and (5) to quantify the influence of desert dust increases on climate change. AerChemMIP2 further requests variants of the ScenarioMIP-CMIP7 high-end and overshoot scenarios to quantify future responses to policy implementations for air quality management. Diagnostic requests of AerChemMIP2 are made from CMIP7 core experiments to facilitate offline experiments for chemistry and aerosols. The experimental protocol of AerChemMIP2 presented here closely aligns with the CMIP7 core experimental design, and its other registered MIPs. Selected AerChemMIP2 experiments are performed in the Assessment Fast Track (AFT) of CMIP7. Participation of modelling centres in AerChemMIP2 would help to gain new insights for atmospheric composition and implications for air quality in a warming world with rapidly changing emissions.