Evaluation of GEMDMv3.3.0 Simulations of Temperature and Water vapor by using the ACE-FTS and MLS Observations

Simulations of the atmospheric temperature and water vapor from the Global Environmental Multiscale Model Distributed Memory version 3.3.0 (GEMDMv3.3.0) are compared with the satellite measurements from Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). The agreement of the GEMDMv3.3.0 temperature is typically better than 5 K in most parts of the troposphere and stratosphere. There is evidence of higher bias (more than 5 K) in the GEMDMv3.3.0 temperature at the vicinity of the stratopause. Statistical comparisons suggest that, generally, the GEMDMv3.3.0 temperature is underestimated (∼2%) in most parts of the troposphere and stratosphere although it is overestimated (up to 4%) above 45 km. Among the different latitude bands the GEMDMv3.3.0 temperature is most consistent with the measurements in the tropics and least consistent in the mid-latitudes of the winter hemisphere.;Unlike the temperature, GEMDMv3.3.0 shows a much higher bias for the water vapor. The water vapor in the stratosphere is better reproduced by the model run with methane oxidation. However, both runs of the model show persistent dry bias (which is ∼ 2 ppmv) in most places of the stratosphere which may be the consequence of the dry bias at the cold point tropopause (∼ 1.5 ppmv). Generally, in the stratosphere the average dry bias of GEMDMv3.3.0 is below 40% which is much lower than that of the troposphere (exceeds 50% at some altitudes).