Impacts of PBL schemes on PM2.5 simulation and their responses to aerosol-radiation feedback in GRAPES_CUACE model during severe haze episodes in Jing-Jin-Ji, China

Using the online-coupled Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System coupled with the Chinese Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment (GRAPES_CUACE) model, numerical experiments are conducted to compare the impacts of three planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes—Medium Range Forecast (MRF), Yonsei University (YSU), and Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ)—on PM2.5 simulations and their responses to aerosol-radiation feedback (ARF), under different terrain and weather conditions. The baseline experiments without ARF with all three PBL schemes can reproduce the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of surface PM2.5 on the whole and show that the model can capture the PM2.5 variation better in unstable conditions (clean days) than in stable conditions (pollution days). The three PBL schemes show differences in the simulations of meteorological factors, e.g., the MRF scheme produces the best 10-m wind speed, the MYJ scheme produces the best 2-m temperature, and the YSU scheme produces the lowest PBL height (PBLH) and vertical diffusivity. Consequently, there is no significant difference among the three PBL schemes in surface PM2.5 simulations due to the combined action of the surface and the PBL structure. However, all the baseline experiments massively underestimate PM2.5 during severe pollution days. The online computing of ARF in the three PBL schemes can substantially improve the underestimation of PM2.5 by reducing sensible heat fluxes, 2-m temperature, friction velocity, and the PBL height. More importantly, the response intensity of three PBL schemes to ARF is very different. For PM2.5 simulations, MYJ has the weakest response, whereas MRF and YSU have similar responses. During the heavy pollution days with more intense aerosol-radiation effect, the increase of PM2.5 induced by ARF in MRF and YSU is about twice that in MYJ, making the PM2.5 simulated by MRF and YSU more consistent with the observations. This result shows the ARF dependence on the PBL processes and suggests the importance of PBL-ARF interaction to the PM2.5 numerical prediction during haze episodes. •The variation of PM2.5 is affected by the interaction between land surface and atmospheric boundary layer.•Aerosol-radiation feedback substantially improves the underestimation of PM2.5 during heavy haze pollution.•Aerosol-radiation feedback strongly depends on the boundary layer processes.