How to customize cloud optical density and overhead ozone columns

[Fu-Weitao]

Hi,

I couldn't figure out how to update some parameters in the locally built tux-x. The reason I ask this question is that I noticed an online version of tuv-x that can customize several parameters (https://www.acom.ucar.edu/Models/TUV/Interactive_TUV/tuv-x.shtml). Because I needed to run it many times, I downloaded and compiled it on my device.

Specifically, I didn't find where I could change the cloud optical density in the ts1_tsmlt.json file, which is available in the online version.

In addition, I noticed the JSON file includes O3 profile that is stored in data/profiles/atmosphere/ussa.ozone. I opened it with text editors and found it contains vertical profiles of ozone columns with notes suggesting it is roughly 349 DU. I want to set it to ~300 because some previous studies set it to that value. In the online version, it is straightforward and I only need to input that value. My question is how do I change it in the locally built tuv-x? Can I scale the second column (Ozone number density)?

Could you please help with these? Thank you!

[K20shores]

@Fu-Weitao thanks for reaching out! Just letting you know that our team has seen this. We'll reply here to answer your question soon. I'm taking a look now but it's possible someone else on my team may beat me to an answer.

[mattldawson]

Hi @Fu-Weitao,

There are several ways to specify what are called "radiators" in the TUV-x JSON configuration (https://ncar.github.io/tuv-x/user_guide.html#radiators), which are used to specify the optical properties of things like O3, clouds, aerosols, or any other optically active atmospheric constituent you would like to account for while solving for the radiation field. These include providing a vertical concentration profile and cross-section parameterization (like the online calculator does for O3 behind the scenes), or just directly providing optical properties on a wavelength grid (like the online calculator does for clouds behind the scenes).

In addition to the older custom text files in some of the examples, you can also provide the vertical profiles in CSV or NetCDF files, or directly in the JSON file (some examples can be found here: https://ncar.github.io/tuv-x/user_guide.html#configuration-profiles-from-csv).

Providing the optical properties directly can be done with a NetCDF file (https://ncar.github.io/tuv-x/user_guide.html#from-netcdf-file).

I talked with @carl-drews who developed the python code that takes the input data from the on-line calculator and converts them into TUV-x JSON data. To date, the code has only been used internally to run the on-line calculator, but we will work to get it up on a public GitHub repo with some instructions so you can pass arguments to a python script that are similar to what you enter in the online tool. It might take some time though. In the meantime, if you want some assistance working with the JSON files, feel free to email [email protected] and we can help edit the files or set up a meeting to discuss how to do this.

[Fu-Weitao]

Hi @K20shores @mattldawson,

Thank you so much for your quick responses and efforts to make tuv-x available. I will look into the methods you mentioned to specify these properties.

I also took another look at the online tuv-x to see whether it works for my project. The interface is really convenient to use. The only thing is that it does not support the ts1_tsmlt configuration. It would be nice if it supports this option in the future.

Thank you again for your help! I'll send an email if I need further assistance.

Best,
Weitao

[K20shores]

@Fu-Weitao we've included the python scripts that drive the online tool. You can find it here, with some instructions on how to use it

[Fu-Weitao]

Thanks a lot for the update!