What is MECCA?
MECCA is an atmospheric chemistry module that contains a comprehensive
chemical mechanism with tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry of both
the gas and the aqueous phase. In addition to the basic HOx,
NOx, and methane chemistry, it also includes non-methane
hydrocarbons (NMHCs), halogens (Cl, Br, I), sulfur (S), and mercury (Hg)
chemistry. A complete list of chemical reactions, including rate
coefficients and full references, is available in pdf
format here. For the numerical integration,
MECCA uses the KPP software.
What is CAABA?
To apply the MECCA chemistry to atmospheric conditions, MECCA must be
connected to a base model via
the MESSy
interface. This base model can be a complex, 3-dimensional model but it
can also be a simple box model. CAABA is such a box model, simulating
the atmospheric environment in which the MECCA chemistry takes place. It
is possible to choose from several scenarios, e.g. the marine boundary
layer, the free troposphere, the stratosphere, or even a smog chamber in
a laboratory. Further scenarios can be added easily.
What is CAABA/MECCA?
When referring to the combination of the CAABA box model with MECCA
chemistry, the term "CAABA/MECCA" is used. Several model
description papers about the box model and its components have been
published in
a special issue in GMD. A user manual in pdf format is
available here. The current stable
and official code version is 4.0. Further information about the
CAABA/MECCA box model is available here.
CAABA/MECCA can be run inside a virtual machine. For more information
about this option, please contact Rolf Sander.