Seminar: Towards Constraints on the Tropospheric Oxidizing Capacity: The Role of Models, Machine Learning, and Satellite Observations

Abstract

Numerous trace gases, including pollutants like CO and greenhouse gases like CH4, are oxidized and removed from the atmosphere by the hydroxyl radical (OH). However, the reactive nature and short lifetime of OH make it highly variable in time and space, impossible to measure on broad scales, and notoriously difficult to constrain across air quality and climate models. We will walk through research performed by our group aimed at understanding why OH and the resulting methane lifetime differ among global models. We will also explore how we can utilize current satellite observations to indirectly constrain tropospheric OH and how we can use those constraints to inform OH variability.