Climate Implications of the Heterogeneity of Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persad, Geeta Gayatri

Short-lived anthropogenic aerosols are concentrated in regions of high human activity, where they interact with radiation and clouds, causing horizontally heterogeneous radiative forcing between polluted and unpolluted regions. Aerosols can absorb shortwave energy in the atmosphere, but deplete it at the surface, producing opposite radiative perturbations between the surface and atmosphere. This thesis investigates climate and policy implications of this horizontal and vertical heterogeneity of anthropogenic aerosol forcing, employing the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's AM2.1 and AM3 models, both at a global scale and using East Asia as a regional case study. The degree of difference between spatial patterns of climate change due to heterogeneous aerosol forcing versus homogeneous greenhouse gas forcing deeply impacts the detection, attribution, and prediction of regional climate change. This dissertation addresses a gap in current understanding of these two forcings' response pattern development, using AM2.1 historical forcing simulations. The results indicate that fast atmospheric and land-surface processes alone substantially homogenize the global pattern of surface energy flux response to heterogeneous aerosol forcing. Aerosols' vertical redistribution of energy significantly impacts regional climate, but is incompletely understood. It is newly identified here, via observations and historical and idealized forcing simulations, that increased aerosol-driven atmospheric absorption may explain half of East Asia's recent surface insolation decline. Further, aerosols' surface and atmospheric effects counteract each other regionally---atmospheric heating enhances summer monsoon circulation, while surface dimming suppresses it---but absorbing aerosols' combined effects reduce summer monsoon rainfall. This thesis constitutes the first vertical decomposition of aerosols' impacts in this high-emissions region and elucidates the monsoonal response to aerosols

Boreal forests, aerosols and the impacts on clouds and climate.

PubMed

Spracklen, Dominick V; Bonn, Boris; Carslaw, Kenneth S

2008-12-28

Previous studies have concluded that boreal forests warm the climate because the cooling from storage of carbon in vegetation and soils is cancelled out by the warming due to the absorption of the Sun's heat by the dark forest canopy. However, these studies ignored the impacts of forests on atmospheric aerosol. We use a global atmospheric model to show that, through emission of organic vapours and the resulting condensational growth of newly formed particles, boreal forests double regional cloud condensation nuclei concentrations (from approx. 100 to approx. 200 cm(-3)). Using a simple radiative model, we estimate that the resulting change in cloud albedo causes a radiative forcing of between -1.8 and -6.7 W m(-2) of forest. This forcing may be sufficiently large to result in boreal forests having an overall cooling impact on climate. We propose that the combination of climate forcings related to boreal forests may result in an important global homeostasis. In cold climatic conditions, the snow-vegetation albedo effect dominates and boreal forests warm the climate, whereas in warmer climates they may emit sufficiently large amounts of organic vapour modifying cloud albedo and acting to cool climate.

Aerosol reductions could dominate regional climate responses in low GHG emission scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samset, B. H.; Sand, M.; Smith, C. J.; Bauer, S.; Forster, P.; Fuglestvedt, J. S.; Osprey, S. M.; Schleussner, C. F.

2017-12-01

Limiting global warming to current political goals requires strong, rapid mitigation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Concurrently, emissions of anthropogenic aerosols will decline sharply, due to co-emission with greenhouse gases, and future measures to improve air quality. As the net climate effect of GHG and aerosol emissions over the industrial era is poorly constrained, predicting the impact of strong aerosol emission reductions remains challenging. Here we investigate the isolated and compound climate impacts from removing present day anthropogenic emissions of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and SO2, and moderate, near term GHG dominated global warming, using four coupled climate models. As the dominating effect of aerosol emission reduction is a removal of cooling from sulphur, the resulting climate impacts amplify those of GHG induced warming. BC emissions contribute little to reducing surface warming, but have stronger regional impacts. For the major aerosol emission regions, extreme weather indices are more sensitive to aerosol removal than to GHG increases, per degree of surface warming. East Asia in particular stands out, mainly due to the high present regional aerosol emissions. We show how present climate models indicate that future regional climate change will depend strongly on changes in loading and distribution of aerosols in the atmosphere, in addition to surface temperature change.

Sources, Transport, and Climate Impacts of Biomass Burning Aerosols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian

2010-01-01

In this presentation, I will first talk about fundamentals of modeling of biomass burning emissions of aerosols, then show the results of GOCART model simulated biomass burning aerosols. I will compare the model results with observations of satellite and ground-based network in terms of total aerosol optical depth, aerosol absorption optical depth, and vertical distributions. Finally the long-range transport of biomass burning aerosols and the climate effects will be addressed. I will also discuss the uncertainties associated with modeling and observations of biomass burning aerosols

Environment, Health and Climate: Impact of African aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liousse, C.; Doumbia, T.; Assamoi, E.; Galy-Lacaux, C.; Baeza, A.; Penner, J. E.; Val, S.; Cachier, H.; Xu, L.; Criqui, P.

2012-12-01

Fossil fuel and biofuel emissions of particles in Africa are expected to significantly increase in the near future, particularly due to rapid growth of African cities. In addition to biomass burning emissions prevailing in these areas, air quality degradation is then expected with important consequences on population health and climatic/radiative impact. In our group, we are constructing a new integrated methodology to study the relations between emissions, air quality and their impacts. This approach includes: (1) African combustion emission characterizations; (2) joint experimental determination of aerosol chemistry from ultrafine to coarse fractions and health issues (toxicology and epidemiology). (3) integrated environmental, health and radiative modeling. In this work, we show some results illustrating our first estimates of African anthropogenic emission impacts: - a new African anthropogenic emission inventory adapted to regional specificities on traffic, biofuel and industrial emissions has been constructed for the years 2005 and 2030. Biomass burning inventories were also improved in the frame of AMMA (African Monsoon) program. - carbonaceous aerosol radiative impact in Africa has been modeled with TM5 model and Penner et al. (2011) radiative code for these inventories for 2005 and 2030 and for two scenarios of emissions : a reference scenario, with no further emission controls beyond those achieved in 2003 and a ccc* scenario including planned policies in Kyoto protocol and regulations as applied to African emission specificities. In this study we will show that enhanced heating is expected with the ccc* scenarios emissions in which the OC fraction is relatively lower than in the reference scenario. - results of short term POLCA intensive campaigns in Bamako and Dakar in terms of aerosol chemical characterization linked to specific emissions sources and their inflammatory impacts on the respiratory tract through in vitro studies. In this study, organic

Assessing Impact of Aerosol Intercontinental Transport on Regional Air Quality and Climate: What Satellites Can Help

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yu, Hongbin

2011-01-01

Mounting evidence for intercontinental transport of aerosols suggests that aerosols from a region could significantly affect climate and air quality in downwind regions and continents. Current assessment of these impacts for the most part has been based on global model simulations that show large variability. The aerosol intercontinental transport and its influence on air quality and climate involve many processes at local, regional, and intercontinental scales. There is a pressing need to establish modeling systems that bridge the wide range of scales. The modeling systems need to be evaluated and constrained by observations, including satellite measurements. Columnar loadings of dust and combustion aerosols can be derived from the MODIS and MISR measurements of total aerosol optical depth and particle size and shape information. Characteristic transport heights of dust and combustion aerosols can be determined from the CALIPSO lidar and AIRS measurements. CALIPSO liar and OMI UV technique also have a unique capability of detecting aerosols above clouds, which could offer some insights into aerosol lofting processes and the importance of above-cloud transport pathway. In this presentation, I will discuss our efforts of integrating these satellite measurements and models to assess the significance of intercontinental transport of dust and combustion aerosols on regional air quality and climate.

Transient Climate Impacts for Scenarios of Aerosol Emissions from Asia: A Story of Coal versus Gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandey, B. S.; Cheng, H.; Wang, C.

2014-12-01

Projections of anthropogenic aerosol emissions are uncertain. In Asia, it is possible that emissions may increase if business continues as usual, with economic growth driving an increase in coal burning. But it is also possible that emissions may decrease rapidly due to the widespread adoption of cleaner technology or a shift towards non-coal fuels, such as natural gas. In this study, the transient climate impacts of three aerosol emissions scenarios are investigated: an RCP4.5 (Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5) control; a scenario with reduced Asian anthropogenic aerosol emissions; and a scenario with enhanced Asian anthropogenic aerosol emissions. A coupled atmosphere-ocean configuration of CESM (Community Earth System Model), including CAM5 (Community Atmosphere Model version 5), is used. Enhanced Asian aerosol emissions are found to delay global mean warming by one decade at the end of the century. Aerosol-induced suppression of the East Asian and South Asian summer monsoon precipitation occurs. The enhanced Asian aerosol emissions also remotely impact precipitation in other parts of the world: over the Sahel, West African monsoon precipitation is suppressed; and over Australia, austral summer monsoon precipitation is enhanced. These remote impacts on precipitation are associated with a southward shift of the ITCZ. The aerosol-induced sea surface temperature (SST) response appears to play an important role in the precipitation changes over South Asia and Australia, but not over East Asia. These results indicate that energy production in Asia, through the consequent aerosol emissions and associated radiative effects, might significantly influence future climate both locally and globally.

Desert dust and anthropogenic aerosol interactions in the Community Climate System Model coupled-carbon-climate model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mahowald, Natalie; Rothenberg, D.; Lindsay, Keith

2011-02-01

Coupled-carbon-climate simulations are an essential tool for predicting the impact of human activity onto the climate and biogeochemistry. Here we incorporate prognostic desert dust and anthropogenic aerosols into the CCSM3.1 coupled carbon-climate model and explore the resulting interactions with climate and biogeochemical dynamics through a series of transient anthropogenic simulations (20th and 21st centuries) and sensitivity studies. The inclusion of prognostic aerosols into this model has a small net global cooling effect on climate but does not significantly impact the globally averaged carbon cycle; we argue that this is likely to be because the CCSM3.1 model has a small climatemore » feedback onto the carbon cycle. We propose a mechanism for including desert dust and anthropogenic aerosols into a simple carbon-climate feedback analysis to explain the results of our and previous studies. Inclusion of aerosols has statistically significant impacts on regional climate and biogeochemistry, in particular through the effects on the ocean nitrogen cycle and primary productivity of altered iron inputs from desert dust deposition.« less

Interactive Nature of Climate Change and Aerosol Forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nazarenko, L.; Rind, D.; Tsigaridis, K.; Del Genio, A. D.; Kelley, M.; Tausnev, N.

2017-01-01

The effect of changing cloud cover on climate, based on cloud-aerosol interactions, is one of the major unknowns for climate forcing and climate sensitivity. It has two components: (1) the impact of aerosols on clouds and climate due to in-situ interactions (i.e., rapid response); and (2) the effect of aerosols on the cloud feedback that arises as climate changes - climate feedback response. We examine both effects utilizing the NASA GISS ModelE2 to assess the indirect effect, with both mass-based and microphysical aerosol schemes, in transient twentieth-century simulations. We separate the rapid response and climate feedback effects by making simulations with a coupled version of the model as well as one with no sea surface temperature or sea ice response (atmosphere-only simulations). We show that the indirect effect of aerosols on temperature is altered by the climate feedbacks following the ocean response, and this change differs depending upon which aerosol model is employed. Overall the effective radiative forcing (ERF) for the direct effect of aerosol-radiation interaction (ERFari) ranges between -0.2 and -0.6 W/sq m for atmosphere-only experiments while the total effective radiative forcing, including the indirect effect (ERFari+aci) varies between about -0.4 and -1.1 W/sq m for atmosphere-only simulations; both ranges are in agreement with those given in IPCC (2013). Including the full feedback of the climate system lowers these ranges to -0.2 to -0.5 W/sq m for ERFari, and -0.3 to -0.74 W/sq m for ERFari+aci. With both aerosol schemes, the climate change feedbacks have reduced the global average indirect radiative effect of atmospheric aerosols relative to what the emission changes would have produced, at least partially due to its effect on tropical upper tropospheric clouds.

A satellite view of aerosols in the climate system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Yoram J.; Tanre, Didier; Boucher, Olivier

2002-01-01

Anthropogenic aerosols are intricately linked to the climate system and to the hydrologic cycle. The net effect of aerosols is to cool the climate system by reflecting sunlight. Depending on their composition, aerosols can also absorb sunlight in the atmosphere, further cooling the surface but warming the atmosphere in the process. These effects of aerosols on the temperature profile, along with the role of aerosols as cloud condensation nuclei, impact the hydrologic cycle, through changes in cloud cover, cloud properties and precipitation. Unravelling these feedbacks is particularly difficult because aerosols take a multitude of shapes and forms, ranging from desert dust to urban pollution, and because aerosol concentrations vary strongly over time and space. To accurately study aerosol distribution and composition therefore requires continuous observations from satellites, networks of ground-based instruments and dedicated field experiments. Increases in aerosol concentration and changes in their composition, driven by industrialization and an expanding population, may adversely affect the Earth's climate and water supply.

The Aerosol-Monsoon Climate System of Asia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lau, William K. M.; Kyu-Myong, Kim

2012-01-01

In Asian monsoon countries such as China and India, human health and safety problems caused by air-pollution are worsening due to the increased loading of atmospheric pollutants stemming from rising energy demand associated with the rapid pace of industrialization and modernization. Meanwhile, uneven distribution of monsoon rain associated with flash flood or prolonged drought, has caused major loss of human lives, and damages in crop and properties with devastating societal impacts on Asian countries. Historically, air-pollution and monsoon research are treated as separate problems. However a growing number of recent studies have suggested that the two problems may be intrinsically intertwined and need to be studied jointly. Because of complexity of the dynamics of the monsoon systems, aerosol impacts on monsoons and vice versa must be studied and understood in the context of aerosol forcing in relationship to changes in fundamental driving forces of the monsoon climate system (e.g. sea surface temperature, land-sea contrast etc.) on time scales from intraseasonal variability (weeks) to climate change ( multi-decades). Indeed, because of the large contributions of aerosols to the global and regional energy balance of the atmosphere and earth surface, and possible effects of the microphysics of clouds and precipitation, a better understanding of the response to climate change in Asian monsoon regions requires that aerosols be considered as an integral component of a fully coupled aerosol-monsoon system on all time scales. In this paper, using observations and results from climate modeling, we will discuss the coherent variability of the coupled aerosol-monsoon climate system in South Asia and East Asia, including aerosol distribution and types, with respect to rainfall, moisture, winds, land-sea thermal contrast, heat sources and sink distributions in the atmosphere in seasonal, interannual to climate change time scales. We will show examples of how elevated

Remote Sensing of Aerosol and Aerosol Radiative Forcing of Climate from EOS Terra MODIS Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Yoram; Tanre, Didier; Remer, Lorraine; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The recent launch of EOS-Terra into polar orbit has begun to revolutionize remote sensing of aerosol and their effect on climate. Terra has five instruments, two of them,Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) are designed to monitor global aerosol in two different complementary ways. Here we shall discuss the use of the multispectral measurements of MODIS to derive: (1) the global distribution of aerosol load (and optical thickness) over ocean and land; (2) to measure the impact of aerosol on reflection of sunlight to space; and (3) to measure the ability of aerosol to absorb solar radiation. These measurements have direct applications on the understanding of the effect of aerosol on climate, the ability to predict climate change, and on the monitoring of dust episodes and man-made pollution. Principles of remote sensing of aerosol from MODIS will be discussed and first examples of measurements from MODIS will be provided.

Climate impact of biofuels in shipping: global model studies of the aerosol indirect effect.

PubMed

Righi, Mattia; Klinger, Carolin; Eyring, Veronika; Hendricks, Johannes; Lauer, Axel; Petzold, Andreas

2011-04-15

Aerosol emissions from international shipping are recognized to have a large impact on the Earth's radiation budget, directly by scattering and absorbing solar radiation and indirectly by altering cloud properties. New regulations have recently been approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aiming at progressive reductions of the maximum sulfur content allowed in marine fuels from current 4.5% by mass down to 0.5% in 2020, with more restrictive limits already applied in some coastal regions. In this context, we use a global bottom-up algorithm to calculate geographically resolved emission inventories of gaseous (NO(x), CO, SO(2)) and aerosol (black carbon, organic matter, sulfate) species for different kinds of low-sulfur fuels in shipping. We apply these inventories to study the resulting changes in radiative forcing, attributed to particles from shipping, with the global aerosol-climate model EMAC-MADE. The emission factors for the different fuels are based on measurements at a test bed of a large diesel engine. We consider both fossil fuel (marine gas oil) and biofuels (palm and soy bean oil) as a substitute for heavy fuel oil in the current (2006) fleet and compare their climate impact to that resulting from heavy fuel oil use. Our simulations suggest that ship-induced surface level concentrations of sulfate aerosol are strongly reduced, up to about 40-60% in the high-traffic regions. This clearly has positive consequences for pollution reduction in the vicinity of major harbors. Additionally, such reductions in the aerosol loading lead to a decrease of a factor of 3-4 in the indirect global aerosol effect induced by emissions from international shipping.

Global Climate Models Intercomparison of Anthropogenic Aerosols Effects on Regional Climate over North Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, J.; Zhang, R.; Wang, Y.; Ming, Y.; Lin, Y.; Pan, B.

2015-12-01

Aerosols can alter atmospheric radiation and cloud physics, which further exert impacts on weather and global climate. With the development and industrialization of the developing Asian countries, anthropogenic aerosols have received considerable attentions and remain to be the largest uncertainty in the climate projection. Here we assess the performance of two stat-of-art global climate models (National Center for Atmospheric Research-Community Atmosphere Model 5 (CAM5) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Atmosphere Model 3 (AM3)) in simulating the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on North Pacific storm track region. By contrasting two aerosol scenarios, i.e. present day (PD) and pre-industrial (PI), both models show aerosol optical depth (AOD) enhanced by about 22%, with CAM5 AOD 40% lower in magnitude due to the long range transport of anthropogenic aerosols. Aerosol effects on the ice water path (IWP), stratiform precipitation, convergence and convection strengths in the two models are distinctive in patterns and magnitudes. AM3 shows qualitatively good agreement with long-term satellite observations, while CAM5 overestimates convection and liquid water path resulting in an underestimation of large-scale precipitation and IWP. Due to coarse resolution and parameterization in convection schemes, both models' performance on convection needs to be improved. Aerosols performance on large-scale circulation and radiative budget are also examined in this study.

Transient Climate Impacts for Scenarios of Aerosol Emissions from Asia: A Story of Coal versus Gas

DOE PAGES

Grandey, Benjamin S.; Cheng, Haiwen; Wang, Chien

2016-04-06

Fuel usage is an important driver of anthropogenic aerosol emissions. In Asia, it is possible that aerosol emissions may increase if business continues as usual, with economic growth driving an increase in coal burning. But it is also possible that emissions may decrease rapidly as a result of the widespread adoption of cleaner technologies or a shift toward noncoal fuels, such as natural gas. In this study, the transient climate impacts of two aerosol emissions scenarios are investigated: a representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) control, which projects a decrease in anthropogenic aerosol emissions, and a scenario with enhanced anthropogenic aerosolmore » emissions from Asia. A coupled atmosphere–ocean configuration of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), including the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5 (CAM5), is used. Three sets of initial conditions are used to produce a three-member ensemble for each scenario. Enhanced Asian aerosol emissions are found to exert a large cooling effect across the Northern Hemisphere, partially offsetting greenhouse gas–induced warming. Aerosol-induced suppression of the East Asian and South Asian summer monsoon precipitation occurs. The enhanced Asian aerosol emissions also remotely impact precipitation in other parts of the world. Over Australia, austral summer monsoon precipitation is enhanced, an effect associated with a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone, driven by the aerosol-induced cooling of the Northern Hemisphere. Over the Sahel, West African monsoon precipitation is suppressed, likely via a weakening of the West African westerly jet. These results indicate that fuel usage in Asia, through the consequent aerosol emissions and associated radiative effects, might significantly influence future climate both locally and globally.« less

Carbonaceous aerosols and Impacts on regional climate over South Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathak, B.; Parottil, A.

2017-12-01

A comprehensive assessment on the effects of carbonaceous aerosols over regional climate of South Asia CORDEX Domain is carried out using the ICTP developed Regional climate model version 4 (RegCM 4.4). Five different simulations considering (a) Carbonaceous aerosols with feedback to meteorological field (EXP1), (b) Carbonaceous aerosols without feedback to meteorological field (c) only Black Carbon with feed back to meteorological field (EXP3) and (d) only Black Carbon without feed back to meteorological field (EXP4) and only meteorology simulation (CNTL) are performed. All the five experiments are integrated from 01 January 2008 to 01 January 2012 continuously with a horizontal resolution of 50 km with first one year as spin up time. The simulated meteorology for all the simulations is validated by comparing with observations. The influence of carbonaceous aerosols on Direct Radiative Forcing (DRF) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and within the atmosphere (ATM) over the South Asian region with focus on Indian subcontinent is carried out. The contribution of black carbon to the total DRF and its significance is analyzed. Modulation in precipitation and temperature with the aerosol-climate feedback is studied by comparing the meteorological parameters in CNTL with CARB/BC with and without feedback simulations. In general, black carbon is found to reduce the precipitation, wind over the region more strongly than total carbonaceous aerosols. Role of black carbon in warming the surface is investigated by comparing the RegCM simulation considering both biomass burning and anthropogenic emissions with simulations considering only anthropogenic simulations.

Aerosol and monsoon climate interactions over Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhanqing; Lau, W. K.-M.; Ramanathan, V.; Wu, G.; Ding, Y.; Manoj, M. G.; Liu, J.; Qian, Y.; Li, J.; Zhou, T.; Fan, J.; Rosenfeld, D.; Ming, Y.; Wang, Y.; Huang, J.; Wang, B.; Xu, X.; Lee, S.-S.; Cribb, M.; Zhang, F.; Yang, X.; Zhao, C.; Takemura, T.; Wang, K.; Xia, X.; Yin, Y.; Zhang, H.; Guo, J.; Zhai, P. M.; Sugimoto, N.; Babu, S. S.; Brasseur, G. P.

2016-12-01

The increasing severity of droughts/floods and worsening air quality from increasing aerosols in Asia monsoon regions are the two gravest threats facing over 60% of the world population living in Asian monsoon regions. These dual threats have fueled a large body of research in the last decade on the roles of aerosols in impacting Asian monsoon weather and climate. This paper provides a comprehensive review of studies on Asian aerosols, monsoons, and their interactions. The Asian monsoon region is a primary source of emissions of diverse species of aerosols from both anthropogenic and natural origins. The distributions of aerosol loading are strongly influenced by distinct weather and climatic regimes, which are, in turn, modulated by aerosol effects. On a continental scale, aerosols reduce surface insolation and weaken the land-ocean thermal contrast, thus inhibiting the development of monsoons. Locally, aerosol radiative effects alter the thermodynamic stability and convective potential of the lower atmosphere leading to reduced temperatures, increased atmospheric stability, and weakened wind and atmospheric circulations. The atmospheric thermodynamic state, which determines the formation of clouds, convection, and precipitation, may also be altered by aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei. Absorbing aerosols such as black carbon and desert dust in Asian monsoon regions may also induce dynamical feedback processes, leading to a strengthening of the early monsoon and affecting the subsequent evolution of the monsoon. Many mechanisms have been put forth regarding how aerosols modulate the amplitude, frequency, intensity, and phase of different monsoon climate variables. A wide range of theoretical, observational, and modeling findings on the Asian monsoon, aerosols, and their interactions are synthesized. A new paradigm is proposed on investigating aerosol-monsoon interactions, in which natural aerosols such as desert dust, black carbon from

Climate impact of anthropogenic aerosols on cirrus clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penner, J.; Zhou, C.

2017-12-01

Cirrus clouds have a net warming effect on the atmosphere and cover about 30% of the Earth's area. Aerosol particles initiate ice formation in the upper troposphere through modes of action that include homogeneous freezing of solution droplets, heterogeneous nucleation on solid particles immersed in a solution, and deposition nucleation of vapor onto solid particles. However, the efficacy with which particles act to form cirrus particles in a model depends on the representation of updrafts. Here, we use a representation of updrafts based on observations of gravity waves, and follow ice formation/evaporation during both updrafts and downdrafts. We examine the possible change in ice number concentration from anthropogenic soot originating from surface sources of fossil fuel and biomass burning and from aircraft particles that have previously formed ice in contrails. Results show that fossil fuel and biomass burning soot aerosols with this version exert a radiative forcing of -0.15±0.02 Wm-2 while aircraft aerosols that have been pre-activated within contrails exert a forcing of -0.20±0.06 Wm-2, but it is possible to decrease these estimates of forcing if a larger fraction of dust particles act as heterogeneous ice nuclei. In addition aircraft aerosols may warm the climate if a large fraction of these particles act as ice nuclei. The magnitude of the forcing in cirrus clouds can be comparable to the forcing exerted by anthropogenic aerosols on warm clouds. This assessment could therefore support climate models with high sensitivity to greenhouse gas forcing, while still allowing the models to fit the overall historical temperature change.

A new approach to modeling aerosol effects on East Asian climate: Parametric uncertainties associated with emissions, cloud microphysics, and their interactions: AEROSOL EFFECTS ON EAST ASIAN CLIMATE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yan, Huiping; Qian, Yun; Zhao, Chun

2015-09-09

In this study, we adopt a parametric sensitivity analysis framework that integrates the quasi-Monte Carlo parameter sampling approach and a surrogate model to examine aerosol effects on the East Asian Monsoon climate simulated in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5). A total number of 256 CAM5 simulations are conducted to quantify the model responses to the uncertain parameters associated with cloud microphysics parameterizations and aerosol (e.g., sulfate, black carbon (BC), and dust) emission factors and their interactions. Results show that the interaction terms among parameters are important for quantifying the sensitivity of fields of interest, especially precipitation, to the parameters. Themore » relative importance of cloud-microphysics parameters and emission factors (strength) depends on evaluation metrics or the model fields we focused on, and the presence of uncertainty in cloud microphysics imposes an additional challenge in quantifying the impact of aerosols on cloud and climate. Due to their different optical and microphysical properties and spatial distributions, sulfate, BC, and dust aerosols have very different impacts on East Asian Monsoon through aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions. The climatic effects of aerosol do not always have a monotonic response to the change of emission factors. The spatial patterns of both sign and magnitude of aerosol-induced changes in radiative fluxes, cloud, and precipitation could be different, depending on the aerosol types, when parameters are sampled in different ranges of values. We also identify the different cloud microphysical parameters that show the most significant impact on climatic effect induced by sulfate, BC and dust, respectively, in East Asia.« less

First Evaluation of the CCAM Aerosol Simulation over Africa: Implications for Regional Climate Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horowitz, H.; Garland, R. M.; Thatcher, M. J.; Naidoo, M.; van der Merwe, J.; Landman, W.; Engelbrecht, F.

2015-12-01

An accurate representation of African aerosols in climate models is needed to understand the regional and global radiative forcing and climate impacts of aerosols, at present and under future climate change. However, aerosol simulations in regional climate models for Africa have not been well-tested. Africa contains the largest single source of biomass-burning smoke aerosols and dust globally. Although aerosols are short-lived relative to greenhouse gases, black carbon in particular is estimated to be second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to warming on a global scale. Moreover, Saharan dust is exported great distances over the Atlantic Ocean, affecting nutrient transport to regions like the Amazon rainforest, which can further impact climate. Biomass burning aerosols are also exported from Africa, westward from Angola over the Atlantic Ocean and off the southeastern coast of South Africa to the Indian Ocean. Here, we perform the first extensive quantitative evaluation of the Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) aerosol simulation against monitored data, focusing on aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations over Africa. We analyze historical regional simulations for 1999 - 2012 from CCAM consistent with the experimental design of CORDEX at 50 km global horizontal resolution, through the dynamical downscaling of ERA-Interim data reanalysis data, with the CMIP5 emissions inventory (RCP8.5 scenario). CCAM has a prognostic aerosol scheme for organic carbon, black carbon, sulfate, and dust, and non-prognostic sea salt. The CCAM AOD at 550nm was compared to AOD (observed at 440nm, adjusted to 550nm with the Ångström exponent) from long-term AERONET stations across Africa. Sites strongly impacted by dust and biomass burning and with long continuous records were prioritized. In general, the model captures the monthly trends of the AERONET data. This presentation provides a basis for understanding how well aerosol particles are represented over Africa in

Energy-based and process-based constraints on aerosol-climate interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, K.; Sato, Y.; Takemura, T.; Michibata, T.; Goto, D.; Oikawa, E.

2017-12-01

Recent advance in both satellite observations and global modeling provides us with a novel opportunity to investigate the long-standing aerosol-climate interaction issue at a fundamental process level, particularly with a combined use of them. In this presentation, we will highlight our recent progress in understanding the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction and its implication for global climate with a synergistic use of a state-of-the-art global climate model (MIROC), a global cloud-resolving model (NICAM) and recent satellite observations (A-Train). In particular, we explore two different aspects of the aerosol-climate interaction issue, i.e. (i) the global energy balance perspective with its modulation due to aerosols and (ii) the process-level characteristics of the aerosol-induced perturbations to cloud and precipitation. For the former, climate model simulations are used to quantify how components of global energy budget are modulated by the aerosol forcing. The moist processes are shown to be a critical pathway that links the forcing efficacy and the hydrologic sensitivity arising from aerosol perturbations. Effects of scattering (e.g. sulfate) and absorbing (e.g. black carbon) aerosols are compared in this context to highlight their distinctively different impacts on climate and hydrologic cycle. The aerosol-induced modulation of moist processes is also investigated in the context of the second aspect above to facilitate recent arguments on possible overestimates of the aerosol-cloud interaction in climate models. Our recent simulations with NICAM are shown to highlight how diverse responses of cloud to aerosol perturbation, which have been failed to represent in traditional climate models, are reproduced by the high-resolution global model with sophisticated cloud microphysics. We will discuss implications of these findings for a linkage between the two aspects above to aid advance process-based understandings of the aerosol-climate interaction and

Assessing the impact of aerosol-atmosphere interactions in convection-permitting regional climate simulations: the Rolf medicane in 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

José Gómez-Navarro, Juan; María López-Romero, José; Palacios-Peña, Laura; Montávez, Juan Pedro; Jiménez-Guerrero, Pedro

2017-04-01

A critical challenge for assessing regional climate change projections relies on improving the estimate of atmospheric aerosol impact on clouds and reducing the uncertainty associated with the use of parameterizations. In this sense, the horizontal grid spacing implemented in state-of-the-art regional climate simulations is typically 10-25 kilometers, meaning that very important processes such as convective precipitation are smaller than a grid box, and therefore need to be parameterized. This causes large uncertainties, as closure assumptions and a number of parameters have to be established by model tuning. Convection is a physical process that may be strongly conditioned by atmospheric aerosols, although the solution of aerosol-cloud interactions in warm convective clouds remains nowadays a very important scientific challenge, rendering parametrization of these complex processes an important bottleneck that is responsible from a great part of the uncertainty in current climate change projections. Therefore, the explicit simulation of convective processes might improve the quality and reliability of the simulations of the aerosol-cloud interactions in a wide range of atmospheric phenomena. Particularly over the Mediterranean, the role of aerosol particles is very important, being this a crossroad that fuels the mixing of particles from different sources (sea-salt, biomass burning, anthropogenic, Saharan dust, etc). Still, the role of aerosols in extreme events in this area such as medicanes has been barely addressed. This work aims at assessing the role of aerosol-atmosphere interaction in medicanes with the help of the regional chemistry/climate on-line coupled model WRF-CHEM run at a convection-permitting resolution. The analysis is exemplary based on the "Rolf" medicane (6-8 November 2011). Using this case study as reference, four sets of simulations are run with two spatial resolutions: one at a convection-permitting configuration of 4 km, and other at the

Carbonaceous Aerosol Removal During Precipitation Events: Climate Implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaffney, J. S.; Marley, N. A.; Bridges, G. L.; Marchany-Rivera, A.; Begum, M.

2009-12-01

Atmospheric aerosols and their links to clouds are one of the main focus areas of the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Systems Research, due to the fact that aerosols and clouds constitute the major uncertainties in radiative forcing that need to be reduced for more accurate modeling of climate, particularly regional climate. The impact of absorbing aerosols on radiative balance of the atmosphere will depend on their atmospheric lifetimes as well as their UV-visible absorption profiles. Aerosol lifetimes depend on the aerosols ability to take up water and grow to sufficient size to be either removed by gravitational settling or to act as cloud condensation nuclei and be removed by precipitation scavenging. The investigation of uv-visible absorbing aerosols is underway using a seven-channel aethalometer to evaluate the change in aerosol optical absorption during precipitation events. Angstrom absorption exponents (AAEs) are determined before, during, and after rain events to examine the impact on the aerosol absorption profiles anticipated by removal of the water soluble short-wave absorbing species (i.e. HULIS) that can be produced by photochemical oxidation of biogenic emissions (isoprene, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes). Aerosol absorption data are presented from observations made at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and other sites, which clearly show that a significant amount of absorbing carbon is not removed during rain events, and that the organic matter removed is likely secondary organics produced from biogenic precursors. The dissolved organic carbon measured in precipitation samples along with determinations of natural radionuclide tracers are also used to help examine the extent of carbonaceous aerosol removal by precipitation. The data are discussed in terms of the potential impacts of anthropogenic enhancement of aerosol absorption by secondary organic aerosols adding to atmospheric heating and changes in atmospheric dynamics. The potential

Investigation of air pollution and regional climate change due to anthropogenic aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakata, Makiko; Sano, Itaru; Mukai, Sonoyo

2016-10-01

Increased emissions of anthropogenic aerosols associated with economic growth can lead to increased concentrations of hazardous air pollutants. In particular, large cities in East Asia have experienced numerous heavy haze episodes. Atmospheric aerosol distributions in East Asia are complex, being influenced by both natural phenomena and human activity, with urban areas in particular being dominated by fine anthropogenic aerosols released from diesel-powered vehicles and industrial activity. In Japan, air pollution levels have been reduced; nevertheless, in recent years, there is increasing concern regarding air pollution caused by fine particulate matter. The origins of air pollution were examined, focusing on the comparison between aerosol properties observed from satellites and that on the ground. Because of their short life spans, concentrations of anthropogenic aerosols are highest over the source regions, and as a result, the climatic impacts of anthropogenic aerosols are also found to be most pronounced in these regions. In this study, aerosol impacts on climate are assessed by numerical model simulations. The direct effects of aerosols include reduced solar radiation, and hence a decrease in surface temperatures. In addition to these changes in the radiation budget, aerosols have a significant potential to change cloud and precipitation fields. These climatic responses to aerosols can manifest far from their source regions with high industrial activities.

ARM-Led Improvements Aerosols in Climate and Climate Models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ghan, Steven J.; Penner, Joyce E.

2016-07-25

The DOE ARM program has played a foundational role in efforts to quantify aerosol effects on climate, beginning with the early back-of-the-envelope estimates of direct radiative forcing by anthropogenic sulfate and biomass burning aerosol (Penner et al., 1994). In this chapter we review the role that ARM has played in subsequent detailed estimates based on physically-based representations of aerosols in climate models. The focus is on quantifying the direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic aerosol on the planetary energy balance. Only recently have other DOE programs applied the aerosol modeling capability to simulate the climate response to the radiative forcing.

Uncertainties in global aerosols and climate effects due to biofuel emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodros, J. K.; Scott, C. E.; Farina, S. C.; Lee, Y. H.; L'Orange, C.; Volckens, J.; Pierce, J. R.

2015-04-01

Aerosol emissions from biofuel combustion impact both health and climate; however, while reducing emissions through improvements to combustion technologies will improve health, the net effect on climate is largely unconstrained. In this study, we examine sensitivities in global aerosol concentration, direct radiative climate effect, and cloud-albedo aerosol indirect climate effect to uncertainties in biofuel emission factors, optical mixing-state, and model nucleation and background SOA. We use the Goddard Earth Observing System global chemical-transport model (GEOS-Chem) with TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics. The emission factors include: amount, composition, size and hygroscopicity, as well as optical mixing-state properties. We also evaluate emissions from domestic coal use, which is not biofuel but is also frequently emitted from homes. We estimate the direct radiative effect assuming different mixing states (internal, core-shell, and external) with and without absorptive organic aerosol (brown carbon). We find the global-mean direct radiative effect of biofuel emissions ranges from -0.02 to +0.06 W m-2 across all simulation/mixing state combinations with regional effects in source regions ranging from -0.2 to +1.2 W m-2. The global-mean cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect ranges from +0.01 to -0.02 W m-2 with regional effects in source regions ranging from -1.0 to -0.05 W m-2. The direct radiative effect is strongly dependent on uncertainties in emissions mass, composition, emissions aerosol size distributions and assumed optical mixing state, while the indirect effect is dependent on the emissions mass, emissions aerosol size distribution and the choice of model nucleation and secondary organic aerosol schemes. The sign and magnitude of these effects have a strong regional dependence. We conclude that the climate effects of biofuel aerosols are largely unconstrained, and the overall sign of the aerosol effects is unclear due to uncertainties

Aerosol as a player in the Arctic Amplification - an aerosol-climate model evaluation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schacht, Jacob; Heinold, Bernd; Tegen, Ina

2017-04-01

Climate warming is much more pronounced in the Arctic than in any other region on Earth - a phenomenon referred to as the "Arctic Amplification". This is closely related to a variety of specific feedback mechanisms, which relative importance, however, is not yet sufficiently understood. The local changes in the Arctic climate are far-reaching and affect for example the general atmospheric circulation and global energy transport. Aerosol particles from long-range transport and local sources play an important role in the Arctic system by modulating the energy balance (directly by interaction with solar and thermal infrared radiation and indirectly by changing cloud properties and atmospheric dynamics). The main source regions of anthropogenic aerosol are Europe and East Asia, but also local shipping and oil/gas extraction may contribute significantly. In addition, important sources are widespread, mainly natural boreal forest fires. Most of the European aerosol is transported through the lower atmospheric layers in wintertime. The Asian aerosol is transported through higher altitudes. Because of the usually pristine conditions in the Arctic even small absolute changes in aerosol concentration can have large impacts on the Arctic climate. Using global and Arctic-focused model simulations, we aim at investigating the sources and transport pathways of natural and anthropogenic aerosol to the Arctic region, as well as their impact on radiation and clouds. Here, we present first results from an aerosol-climate model evaluation study. Simulations were performed with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6-HAM2, using three different state-of-the-art emission inventories (ACCMIP, ACCMIP + GFAS emissions for wildfires and ECLIPSE). The runs were performed in nudged mode at T63 horizontal resolution (approximately 1.8°) with 47 vertical levels for the 10-year period 2006-2015. Black carbon (BC) and sulphate (SO4) are of particular interest. BC is highly absorbing in the

Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charlson, R. J.; Schwartz, S. E.; Hales, J. M.; Cess, R. D.; Coakley, J. A., Jr.; Hansen, J. E.; Hofmann, D. J.

1992-01-01

Although long considered to be of marginal importance to global climate change, tropospheric aerosol contributes substantially to radiative forcing, and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol, in particular, has imposed a major perturbation to this forcing. Both the direct scattering of short-wavelength solar radiation and the modification of the shortwave reflective properties of clouds by sulfate aerosol particles increase planetary albedo, thereby exerting a cooling influence on the planet. Current climate forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate is estimated to be -1 to -2 watts per square meter, globally averaged. This perturbation is comparable in magnitude to current anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing but opposite in sign. Thus, the aerosol forcing has likely offset global greenhouse warming to a substantial degree. However, differences in geographical and seasonal distributions of these forcings preclude any simple compensation. Aerosol effects must be taken into account in evaluating anthropogenic influences on past, current, and projected future climate and in formulating policy regarding controls on emission of greenhouse gases and sulfur dioxide. Resolution of such policy issues requires integrated research on the magnitude and geographical distribution of aerosol climate forcing and on the controlling chemical and physical processes.

Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols.

PubMed

Charlson, R J; Schwartz, S E; Hales, J M; Cess, R D; Coakley, J A; Hansen, J E; Hofmann, D J

1992-01-24

Although long considered to be of marginal importance to global climate change, tropospheric aerosol contributes substantially to radiative forcing, and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol in particular has imposed a major perturbation to this forcing. Both the direct scattering of shortwavelength solar radiation and the modification of the shortwave reflective properties of clouds by sulfate aerosol particles increase planetary albedo, thereby exerting a cooling influence on the planet. Current climate forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate is estimated to be -1 to -2 watts per square meter, globally averaged. This perturbation is comparable in magnitude to current anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing but opposite in sign. Thus, the aerosol forcing has likely offset global greenhouse warming to a substantial degree. However, differences in geographical and seasonal distributions of these forcings preclude any simple compensation. Aerosol effects must be taken into account in evaluating anthropogenic influences on past, current, and projected future climate and in formulating policy regarding controls on emission of greenhouse gases and sulfur dioxide. Resolution of such policy issues requires integrated research on the magnitude and geographical distribution of aerosol climate forcing and on the controlling chemical and physical processes.

Uncertainties in global aerosols and climate effects due to biofuel emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodros, J. K.; Scott, C. E.; Farina, S. C.; Lee, Y. H.; L'Orange, C.; Volckens, J.; Pierce, J. R.

2015-08-01

Aerosol emissions from biofuel combustion impact both health and climate; however, while reducing emissions through improvements to combustion technologies will improve health, the net effect on climate is largely unconstrained. In this study, we examine sensitivities in global aerosol concentration, direct radiative climate effect, and cloud-albedo aerosol indirect climate effect to uncertainties in biofuel emission factors, optical mixing state, and model nucleation and background secondary organic aerosol (SOA). We use the Goddard Earth Observing System global chemical-transport model (GEOS-Chem) with TwO Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics. The emission factors include amount, composition, size, and hygroscopicity, as well as optical mixing-state properties. We also evaluate emissions from domestic coal use, which is not biofuel but is also frequently emitted from homes. We estimate the direct radiative effect assuming different mixing states (homogeneous, core-shell, and external) with and without absorptive organic aerosol (brown carbon). We find the global-mean direct radiative effect of biofuel emissions ranges from -0.02 to +0.06 W m-2 across all simulation/mixing-state combinations with regional effects in source regions ranging from -0.2 to +0.8 W m-2. The global-mean cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect (AIE) ranges from +0.01 to -0.02 W m-2 with regional effects in source regions ranging from -1.0 to -0.05 W m-2. The direct radiative effect is strongly dependent on uncertainties in emissions mass, composition, emissions aerosol size distributions, and assumed optical mixing state, while the indirect effect is dependent on the emissions mass, emissions aerosol size distribution, and the choice of model nucleation and secondary organic aerosol schemes. The sign and magnitude of these effects have a strong regional dependence. We conclude that the climate effects of biofuel aerosols are largely unconstrained, and the overall sign of the aerosol

Complex Coupling of Air Quality and Climate-Relevant Aerosols in a Chemistry-Aerosol Microphysics Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshioka, M.; Carslaw, K. S.; Reddington, C.; Mann, G.

2013-12-01

Controlling emissions of aerosols and their precursors to improve air quality will impact the climate through direct and indirect radiative forcing. We have investigated the impacts of changes in a range of aerosol and gas-phase emission fluxes and changes in temperature on air quality and climate change metrics using a global aerosol microphysics and chemistry model, GLOMAP. We investigate how the responses of PM2.5 and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are coupled, and how attempts to improve air quality could have inadvertent effects on CCN, clouds and climate. The parameter perturbations considered are a 5°C increase in global temperature, increased or decreased precursor emissions of anthropogenic SO2, NH3, and NOx, and biogenic monoterpenes, and increased or decreased primary emissions of organic and black carbon aerosols from wildfire, fossil fuel, and biofuel. To quantify the interactions, we define a new sensitivity metric in terms of the response of CCN divided by the response of PM in different regions. .Our results show that the coupled chemistry and aerosol processes cause complex responses that will make any co-benefit policy decision problematic. In particular, we show that reducing SO2 emissions effectively reduces surface-level PM2.5 over continental regions in summer when background PM2.5 is high, with a relatively small reduction in marine CCN (and hence indirect radiative cooling over ocean), which is beneficial for near-term climate. Reducing NOx emissions does not improve summertime air quality very effectively but leads to a relatively high reduction of marine CCN. Reducing NH3 emissions has moderate effects on both PM2.5 and CCN. These three species are strongly coupled chemically and microphysically and the effects of changing emissions of one species on mass and size distributions of aerosols are very complex and spatially and temporally variable. For example, reducing SO2 emissions leads to reductions in sulphate and ammonium mass

Landscape fires dominate terrestrial natural aerosol - climate feedbacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, C.; Arnold, S.; Monks, S. A.; Asmi, A.; Paasonen, P.; Spracklen, D. V.

2017-12-01

The terrestrial biosphere is an important source of natural aerosol including landscape fire emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). Atmospheric aerosol alters the Earth's climate by absorbing and scattering radiation (direct radiative effect; DRE) and by perturbing the properties of clouds (aerosol indirect effect; AIE). Natural aerosol sources are strongly controlled by, and can influence, climate; giving rise to potential natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. Earth System Models (ESMs) include a description of some of these natural aerosol-climate feedbacks, predicting substantial changes in natural aerosol over the coming century with associated radiative perturbations. Despite this, the sensitivity of natural aerosols simulated by ESMs to changes in climate or emissions has not been robustly tested against observations. Here we combine long-term observations of aerosol number and a global aerosol microphysics model to assess terrestrial natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. We find a strong positive relationship between the summertime anomaly in observed concentration of particles greater than 100 nm diameter and the anomaly in local air temperature. This relationship is reproduced by the model and driven by variability in dynamics and meteorology, as well as natural sources of aerosol. We use an offline radiative transfer model to determine radiative effects due to changes in two natural aerosol sources: landscape fire and biogenic SOA. We find that interannual variability in the simulated global natural aerosol radiative effect (RE) is negatively related to the global temperature anomaly. The magnitude of global aerosol-climate feedback (sum of DRE and AIE) is estimated to be -0.15 Wm-2 K-1 for landscape fire aerosol and -0.06 Wm-2 K-1 for biogenic SOA. These feedbacks are comparable in magnitude, but opposite in sign to the snow albedo feedback, highlighting the need for natural aerosol feedbacks to

Impact of anthropogenic aerosols on regional climate change in Beijing, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, B.; Liou, K. N.; He, C.; Lee, W. L.; Gu, Y.; Li, Q.; Leung, L. R.

2015-12-01

Anthropogenic aerosols affect regional climate significantly through radiative (direct and semi-direct) and indirect effects, but the magnitude of these effects over megacities are subject to large uncertainty. In this study, we evaluated the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on regional climate change in Beijing, China using the online-coupled Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry Model (WRF/Chem) with the Fu-Liou-Gu radiation scheme and a spatial resolution of 4km. We further updated this radiation scheme with a geometric-optics surface-wave (GOS) approach for the computation of light absorption and scattering by black carbon (BC) particles in which aggregation shape and internal mixing properties are accounted for. In addition, we incorporated in WRF/Chem a 3D radiative transfer parameterization in conjunction with high-resolution digital data for city buildings and landscape to improve the simulation of boundary-layer, surface solar fluxes and associated sensible/latent heat fluxes. Preliminary simulated meteorological parameters, fine particles (PM2.5) and their chemical components agree well with observational data in terms of both magnitude and spatio-temporal variations. The effects of anthropogenic aerosols, including BC, on radiative forcing, surface temperature, wind speed, humidity, cloud water path, and precipitation are quantified on the basis of simulation results. With several preliminary sensitivity runs, we found that meteorological parameters and aerosol radiative effects simulated with the incorporation of improved BC absorption and 3-D radiation parameterizations deviate substantially from simulation results using the conventional homogeneous/core-shell configuration for BC and the plane-parallel model for radiative transfer. Understanding of the aerosol effects on regional climate change over megacities must consider the complex shape and mixing state of aerosol aggregates and 3D radiative transfer effects over city landscape.

Impacts of Mt Pinatubo volcanic aerosol on the tropical stratosphere in chemistry-climate model simulations using CCMI and CMIP6 stratospheric aerosol data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Revell, Laura E.; Stenke, Andrea; Luo, Beiping; Kremser, Stefanie; Rozanov, Eugene; Sukhodolov, Timofei; Peter, Thomas

2017-11-01

To simulate the impacts of volcanic eruptions on the stratosphere, chemistry-climate models that do not include an online aerosol module require temporally and spatially resolved aerosol size parameters for heterogeneous chemistry and aerosol radiative properties as a function of wavelength. For phase 1 of the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI-1) and, later, for phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) two such stratospheric aerosol data sets were compiled, whose functional capability and representativeness are compared here. For CCMI-1, the SAGE-4λ data set was compiled, which hinges on the measurements at four wavelengths of the SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) II satellite instrument and uses ground-based lidar measurements for gap-filling immediately after the 1991 Mt Pinatubo eruption, when the stratosphere was too optically opaque for SAGE II. For CMIP6, the new SAGE-3λ data set was compiled, which excludes the least reliable SAGE II wavelength and uses measurements from CLAES (Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer) on UARS, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, for gap-filling following the Mt Pinatubo eruption instead of ground-based lidars. Here, we performed SOCOLv3 (Solar Climate Ozone Links version 3) chemistry-climate model simulations of the recent past (1986-2005) to investigate the impact of the Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 on stratospheric temperature and ozone and how this response differs depending on which aerosol data set is applied. The use of SAGE-4λ results in heating and ozone loss being overestimated in the tropical lower stratosphere compared to observations in the post-eruption period by approximately 3 K and 0.2 ppmv, respectively. However, less heating occurs in the model simulations based on SAGE-3λ, because the improved gap-filling procedures after the eruption lead to less aerosol loading in the tropical lower stratosphere. As a result, simulated tropical temperature anomalies in

Impact of tropospheric sulphate aerosols on the terrestrial carbon cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliseev, Alexey V.

2015-01-01

Tropospheric sulphate aerosols (TSAs) may oxidise the photosynthesising tissues if they are taken up by plants. A parameterisation of this impact of tropospheric sulphate aerosols (TSAs) on the terrestrial gross primary production is suggested. This parameterisation is implemented into the global Earth system model developed at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of the Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM). With this coupled model, the simulations are performed which are forced by common anthropogenic and natural climate forcings based on historical reconstructions followed by the RCP 8.5 scenario. The model response to sulphate aerosol loading is subdivided into the climatic (related to the influence of TSA on the radiative transport in the atmosphere) and ecological (related to the toxic influence of sulphate aerosol on terrestrial plants) impacts. We found that the former basically dominates over the latter on a global scale and modifies the responses of the global vegetation and soil carbon stocks to external forcings by 10%. At a regional scale, however, ecological impact may be as much important as the climatic one.

Aerosols and their Impact on Radiation, Clouds, Precipitation & Severe Weather Events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Zhanqing; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Fan, Jiwen

Aerosols, the tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, have been in the forefront of environmental and climate change sciences as the primary atmospheric pollutant and external force affecting Earth’s weather and climate. There are two dominant mechanisms by which aerosols affect weather and climate: aerosol-radiation interactions (ARI) and aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI). ARI arises from aerosol scattering and absorption, which alters the radiation budgets of the atmosphere and surface, while ACI is rooted to the fact that aerosols serve as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei. Both ARI and ACI are coupled with atmospheric dynamics to produce a chain of complexmore » interactions with a large range of meteorological variables that influence both weather and climate. Elaborated here are the impacts of aerosols on the radiation budget, clouds (microphysics, structure, and lifetime), precipitation, and severe weather events (lightning, thunderstorms, hail, and tornados). Depending on environmental variables and aerosol properties, the effects can be both positive and negative, posing the largest uncertainties in the external forcing of the climate system. This has considerably hindered our ability in projecting future climate changes and in doing accurate numerical weather predictions.« less

Aerosol-Water Cycle Interaction: A New Challenge in Monsoon Climate Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lau, William K. M.

2006-01-01

Long recognized as a major environmental hazard, aerosol is now known to have strong impacts on both regional and global climate. It has been estimated that aerosol may reduce by up to 10% of the seasonal mean solar radiation reaching the earth surface, producing a global cooling effect that opposes global warming (Climate Change 2001). This means that the potential perils that humans have committed to global warming may be far greater than what we can detect at the present. As a key component of the Earth climate system, the water cycle is profoundly affected by the presence of aerosols in the atmosphere. Through the so-called "direct effect", aerosol scatters and/or absorbs solar radiation, thus cooling the earth surface and changing the horizontal and vertical radiational heating contrast in the atmosphere. The heating contrast drives anomalous atmospheric circulation, resulting in changes in convection, clouds, and rainfall. Another way aerosol can affect the water cycle is through the so-called "indirect effects", whereby aerosol increases the number of cloud condensation nuclei, prolongs life time of clouds, and inhibits the growth of cloud drops to raindrops. This leads to more clouds, and increased reflection of solar radiation, and further cooling at the earth surface. In monsoon regions, the response of the water cycle to aerosol forcing is especially complex, not only because of presence of diverse mix of aerosol species with vastly different radiative properties, but also because the monsoon is strongly influenced by ocean and land surface processes, land use, land change, as well as regional and global greenhouse warming effects. Thus, sorting out the impacts of aerosol forcing, and interaction with the monsoon water cycle is a very challenging problem. In this talk, I will offer some insights into how aerosols may impact the Asian monsoon based on preliminary results from satellite observations and climate model experiments. Specifically, I will

Aerosol-Water Cycle Interaction: A New Challenge in Monsoon Climate Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lau, William K. M.

2006-01-01

Long recognized as a major environmental hazard, aerosol is now known to have strong impacts on both regional and global climate. It has been estimated that aerosol may reduce by up to 10% of the seasonal mean solar radiation reaching the earth surface, producing a global cooling effect that opposes global warming (Climate Change 2001). This means that the potential perils that humans have committed to global warming may be far greater than what we can detect at the present. As a key component of the Earth climate system, the water cycle is profoundly affected by the presence of aerosols in the atmosphere. Through the so-called direct effect , aerosol scatters and/or absorbs solar radiation, thus cooling the earth surface and changing the horizontal and vertical radiational heating contrast in the atmosphere. The heating contrast drives anomalous atmospheric circulation, resulting in changes in convection, clouds, and rainfall. Another way aerosol can affect the water cycle is through the so-called indirect effects, whereby aerosol increases the number of cloud condensation nuclei, prolongs life time of clouds, and inhibits the growth of cloud drops to raindrops. This leads to more clouds, and increased reflection of solar radiation, and further cooling at the earth surface. In monsoon regions, the response of the water cycle to aerosol forcing is especially complex, not only because of presence of diverse mix of aerosol species with vastly different radiative properties, but also because the monsoon is strongly influenced by ocean and land surface processes, land use, land change, as well as regional and global greenhouse warming effects. Thus, sorting out the impacts of aerosol forcing, and interaction with the monsoon water cycle is a very challenging problem. In this talk, I will offer some insights into how aerosols may impact the Asian monsoon based on preliminary results from satellite observations and climate model experiments. Specifically, I will discuss

The Influence of Emission Location on the Magnitude and Spatial Distribution of Aerosols' Climate Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persad, G.; Caldeira, K.

2017-12-01

The global distribution of anthropogenic aerosol emissions has evolved continuously since the preindustrial era - from 20th century North American and Western European emissions hotspots to present-day South and East Asian ones. With this comes a relocation of the regional radiative, dynamical, and hydrological impacts of aerosol emissions, which may influence global climate differently depending on where they occur. A lack of understanding of this relationship between aerosol emissions' location and their global climate effects, however, obscures the potential influence that aerosols' evolving geographic distribution may have on global and regional climate change—a gap which we address in this work. Using a novel suite of experiments in the CESM CAM5 atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab ocean, we systematically test and analyze mechanisms behind the relative climate impact of identical black carbon and sulfate aerosol emissions located in each of 8 past, present, or projected future major emissions regions. Results indicate that historically high emissions regions, such as North America and Western Europe, produce a stronger cooling effect than current and projected future high emissions regions. Aerosol emissions located in Western Europe produce 3 times the global mean cooling (-0.34 °C) as those located in East Africa or India (-0.11 °C). The aerosols' in-situ radiative effects remain relatively confined near the emissions region, but large distal cooling results from remote feedback processes - such as ice albedo and cloud changes - that are excited more strongly by emissions from certain regions than others. Results suggest that aerosol emissions from different countries should not be considered equal in the context of climate mitigation accounting, and that the evolving geographic distribution of aerosol emissions may have a substantial impact on the magnitude and spatial distribution of global climate change.

The Regional Environmental Impacts of Atmospheric Aerosols over Egypt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakey, Ashraf; Ibrahim, Alaa

2015-04-01

Identifying the origin (natural versus anthropogenic) and the dynamics of aerosols over Egypt at varying temporal and spatial scales provide valuable knowledge on the regional climate impacts of aerosols and their ultimate connections to the Earth's regional climate system at the MENA region. At regional scale, Egypt is exposed to air pollution with levels exceeding typical air-quality standards. This is particularly true for the Nile Delta region, being at the crossroads of different aerosol species originating from local urban-industrial and biomass-burning activities, regional dust sources, and European pollution from the north. The Environmental Climate Model (EnvClimA) is used to investigate both of the biogenic and anthropogenic aerosols over Egypt. The dominant natural aerosols over Egypt are due to the sand and dust storms, which frequently occur during the transitional seasons (spring and autumn). In winter, the maximum frequency reaches 2 to 3 per day in the north, which decreases gradually southward with a frequency of 0.5-1 per day. Monitoring one of the most basic aerosol parameters, the aerosol optical depth (AOD), is a main experimental and modeling task in aerosol studies. We used the aerosol optical depth to quantify the amount and variability of aerosol loading in the atmospheric column over a certain areas. The aerosols optical depth from the model is higher in spring season due to the impacts of dust activity over Egypt as results of the westerly wind, which carries more dust particles from the Libyan Desert. The model result shows that the mass load of fine aerosols has a longer life-time than the coarse aerosols. In autumn season, the modelled aerosol optical depth tends to increase due to the biomass burning in the delta of Egypt. Natural aerosol from the model tends to scatter the solar radiation while most of the anthropogenic aerosols tend to absorb the longwave solar radiation. The overall results indicate that the AOD is lowest in winter

Future Climate Impacts of Direct Radiative Forcing Anthropogenic Aerosols, Tropospheric Ozone, and Long-lived Greenhouse Gases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Wei-Ting; Liao, Hong; Seinfeld, John H.

2007-01-01

Long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the most important driver of climate change over the next century. Aerosols and tropospheric ozone (O3) are expected to induce significant perturbations to the GHG-forced climate. To distinguish the equilibrium climate responses to changes in direct radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols, tropospheric ozone, and GHG between present day and year 2100, four 80-year equilibrium climates are simulated using a unified tropospheric chemistry-aerosol model within the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) 110. Concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, primary organic (POA) carbon, secondary organic (SOA) carbon, black carbon (BC) aerosols, and tropospheric ozone for present day and year 2100 are obtained a priori by coupled chemistry-aerosol GCM simulations, with emissions of aerosols, ozone, and precursors based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenario (SRES) A2. Changing anthropogenic aerosols, tropospheric ozone, and GHG from present day to year 2100 is predicted to perturb the global annual mean radiative forcing by +0.18 (considering aerosol direct effects only), +0.65, and +6.54 W m(sup -2) at the tropopause, and to induce an equilibrium global annual mean surface temperature change of +0.14, +0.32, and +5.31 K, respectively, with the largest temperature response occurring at northern high latitudes. Anthropogenic aerosols, through their direct effect, are predicted to alter the Hadley circulation owing to an increasing interhemispheric temperature gradient, leading to changes in tropical precipitation. When changes in both aerosols and tropospheric ozone are considered, the predicted patterns of change in global circulation and the hydrological cycle are similar to those induced by aerosols alone. GHG-induced climate changes, such as amplified warming over high latitudes, weakened Hadley circulation, and increasing precipitation over the

Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong

2012-01-01

Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. Here we review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on convective precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancy between results simulated by models, as well as that between simulations and observations, are presented. Specifically, this paper addresses the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from largescale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions for gaining a better understanding of aerosol--cloud-precipitation interactions are suggested.

A 10-year climatology of pollen aerosol for the continental United States: implications for aerosol-climate interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wozniak, M. C.

2016-12-01

Our current understanding of biological particles and their role in the climate system is uncertain. Pollen, a primary biological aerosol particle, has been understudied in the context of climate and atmospheric science because of its coarse size (10-100 µm). Local coarse grain pollen concentrations can reach up to 10,000 grains m-3, and when ruptured by wet or turbulent atmospheric conditions, can produce fine particles (sub-pollen particles, 10-1000 nm) that may increase pollen's lifetime in the atmosphere. Therefore, pollen contributes to both coarse and fine particle loads in the atmosphere that may have climatic impacts. During peak pollen emissions season, what impacts does pollen have on aerosol concentrations in the atmosphere and their indirect forcing? Here we use a model of accurately timed and scaled pollen and sub-pollen particle emissions with climate-dependent phenological dates for four plant functional types (deciduous broadleaf, evergreen needleleaf, grass and ragweed) that dominate emissions across the continental United States. Terrestrial pollen emissions are coupled with the land component of a regional climate model (RegCM4-CLM), and are transported as atmospheric tracers that are allowed interact with radiation and clouds, accounting for the direct and indirect effects of pollen. A ten-year climatology of pollen emissions and climate interactions is calculated for both pollen grains and sub-pollen particles. Its implications for the local and overall radiation budget, aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions and regional climate are discussed.

The impact of residential combustion emissions on atmospheric aerosol, human health, and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butt, E. W.; Rap, A.; Schmidt, A.; Scott, C. E.; Pringle, K. J.; Reddington, C. L.; Richards, N. A. D.; Woodhouse, M. T.; Ramirez-Villegas, J.; Yang, H.; Vakkari, V.; Stone, E. A.; Rupakheti, M.; Praveen, P. S.; van Zyl, P. G.; Beukes, J. P.; Josipovic, M.; Mitchell, E. J. S.; Sallu, S. M.; Forster, P. M.; Spracklen, D. V.

2016-01-01

Combustion of fuels in the residential sector for cooking and heating results in the emission of aerosol and aerosol precursors impacting air quality, human health, and climate. Residential emissions are dominated by the combustion of solid fuels. We use a global aerosol microphysics model to simulate the impact of residential fuel combustion on atmospheric aerosol for the year 2000. The model underestimates black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) mass concentrations observed over Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa, with better prediction when carbonaceous emissions from the residential sector are doubled. Observed seasonal variability of BC and OC concentrations are better simulated when residential emissions include a seasonal cycle. The largest contributions of residential emissions to annual surface mean particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations are simulated for East Asia, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. We use a concentration response function to estimate the human health impact due to long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 from residential emissions. We estimate global annual excess adult (> 30 years of age) premature mortality (due to both cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer) to be 308 000 (113 300-497 000, 5th to 95th percentile uncertainty range) for monthly varying residential emissions and 517 000 (192 000-827 000) when residential carbonaceous emissions are doubled. Mortality due to residential emissions is greatest in Asia, with China and India accounting for 50 % of simulated global excess mortality. Using an offline radiative transfer model we estimate that residential emissions exert a global annual mean direct radiative effect between -66 and +21 mW m-2, with sensitivity to the residential emission flux and the assumed ratio of BC, OC, and SO2 emissions. Residential emissions exert a global annual mean first aerosol indirect effect of between -52 and -16 mW m-2, which is sensitive to the assumed size distribution of carbonaceous emissions

Isoprene derived secondary organic aerosol in a global aerosol chemistry climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stadtler, Scarlet; Kühn, Thomas; Taraborrelli, Domenico; Kokkola, Harri; Schultz, Martin

2017-04-01

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) impacts earth's climate and human health. Since its precursor chemistry and its formation are not fully understood, climate models cannot catch its direct and indirect effects. Global isoprene emissions are higher than any other non-methane hydrocarbons. Therefore, SOA from isoprene-derived, low volatile species (iSOA) is simulated using a global aerosol chemistry climate model ECHAM6-HAM-SALSA-MOZ. Isoprene oxidation in the chemistry model MOZ is following a novel semi-explicit scheme, embedded in a detailed atmospheric chemical mechanism. For iSOA formation four low volatile isoprene oxidation products were identified. The group method by Nanoonlal et al. 2008 was used to estimate their evaporation enthalpies ΔHvap. To calculate the saturation concentration C∗(T) the sectional aerosol model SALSA uses the gas phase concentrations simulated by MOZ and their corresponding ΔHvap to obtain the saturation vapor pressure p∗(T) from the Clausius Clapeyron equation. Subsequently, the saturation concentration is used to calculate the explicit kinetic partitioning of these compounds forming iSOA. Furthermore, the irreversible heterogeneous reactions of IEPOX and glyoxal from isoprene were included. The possibility of reversible heterogeneous uptake was ignored at this stage, leading to an upper estimate of the contribution of glyoxal to iSOA mass.

Impact of geoengineered aerosols on the troposphere and stratosphere

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tilmes, S.; Garcia, Rolando R.; Kinnison, Douglas E.

2009-06-27

A coupled chemistry climate model, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model was used to perform a transient climate simulation to quantify the impact of geoengineered aerosols on atmospheric processes. In contrast to previous model studies, the impact on stratospheric chemistry, including heterogeneous chemistry in the polar regions, is considered in this simulation. In the geoengineering simulation, a constant stratospheric distribution of volcanic-sized, liquid sulfate aerosols is imposed in the period 2020–2050, corresponding to an injection of 2 Tg S/a. The aerosol cools the troposphere compared to a baseline simulation. Assuming an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A1B emission scenario, globalmore » warming is delayed by about 40 years in the troposphere with respect to the baseline scenario. Large local changes of precipitation and temperatures may occur as a result of geoengineering. Comparison with simulations carried out with the Community Atmosphere Model indicates the importance of stratospheric processes for estimating the impact of stratospheric aerosols on the Earth’s climate. Changes in stratospheric dynamics and chemistry, especially faster heterogeneous reactions, reduce the recovery of the ozone layer in middle and high latitudes for the Southern Hemisphere. In the geoengineering case, the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole is delayed by about 30 years on the basis of this model simulation. For the Northern Hemisphere, a onefold to twofold increase of the chemical ozone depletion occurs owing to a simulated stronger polar vortex and colder temperatures compared to the baseline simulation, in agreement with observational estimates.« less

Substantial large-scale feedbacks between natural aerosols and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, C. E.; Arnold, S. R.; Monks, S. A.; Asmi, A.; Paasonen, P.; Spracklen, D. V.

2018-01-01

The terrestrial biosphere is an important source of natural aerosol. Natural aerosol sources alter climate, but are also strongly controlled by climate, leading to the potential for natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. Here we use a global aerosol model to make an assessment of terrestrial natural aerosol-climate feedbacks, constrained by observations of aerosol number. We find that warmer-than-average temperatures are associated with higher-than-average number concentrations of large (>100 nm diameter) particles, particularly during the summer. This relationship is well reproduced by the model and is driven by both meteorological variability and variability in natural aerosol from biogenic and landscape fire sources. We find that the calculated extratropical annual mean aerosol radiative effect (both direct and indirect) is negatively related to the observed global temperature anomaly, and is driven by a positive relationship between temperature and the emission of natural aerosol. The extratropical aerosol-climate feedback is estimated to be -0.14 W m-2 K-1 for landscape fire aerosol, greater than the -0.03 W m-2 K-1 estimated for biogenic secondary organic aerosol. These feedbacks are comparable in magnitude to other biogeochemical feedbacks, highlighting the need for natural aerosol feedbacks to be included in climate simulations.

Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong

2011-01-01

Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major reason for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. The central theme of this paper is to review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancy between results simulated by models, as well as that between simulations and observations will be presented. Specifically, this paper will address the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from large-scale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions on aerosol - precipitation interactions are suggested.

Several thoughts for using new satellite remote sensing and global modeling for aerosol and cloud climate studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakajima, Teruyuki; Hashimoto, Makiko; Takenaka, Hideaki; Goto, Daisuke; Oikawa, Eiji; Suzuki, Kentaroh; Uchida, Junya; Dai, Tie; Shi, Chong

2017-04-01

The rapid growth of satellite remote sensing technologies in the last two decades widened the utility of satellite data for understanding climate impacts of aerosols and clouds. The climate modeling community also has received the benefit of the earth observation and nowadays closed-collaboration of the two communities make us possible to challenge various applications for societal problems, such as for global warming and global-scale air pollution and others. I like to give several thoughts of new algorithm developments, model use of satellite data for climate impact studies and societal applications related with aerosols and clouds. Important issues are 1) Better aerosol detection and solar energy application using expanded observation ability of the third generation geostationary satellites, i.e. Himawari-8, GOES-R and future MTG, 2) Various observation functions by directional, polarimetric, and high resolution near-UV band by MISR, POLDER&PARASOL, GOSAT/CAI and future GOSAT2/CAI2, 3) Various applications of general purpose-imagers, MODIS, VIIRS and future GCOM-C/SGLI, and 4) Climate studies of aerosol and cloud stratification and convection with active and passive sensors, especially climate impact of BC aerosols using CLOUDSAT&CALIPSO and future Earth Explorer/EarthCARE.

Potential climate effect of mineral aerosols over West Africa. Part I: model validation and contemporary climate evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Zhenming; Wang, Guiling; Pal, Jeremy S.; Yu, Miao

2016-02-01

Mineral dusts present in the atmosphere can play an important role in climate over West Africa and surrounding regions. However, current understanding regarding how dust aerosols influence climate of West Africa is very limited. In this study, a regional climate model is used to investigate the potential climatic impacts of dust aerosols. Two sets of simulations driven by reanalysis and Earth System Model boundary conditions are performed with and without the representation of dust processes. The model, regardless of the boundary forcing, captures the spatial and temporal variability of the aerosol optical depth and surface concentration. The shortwave radiative forcing of dust is negative at the surface and positive in the atmosphere, with greater changes in the spring and summer. The presence of mineral dusts causes surface cooling and lower troposphere heating, resulting in a stabilization effect and reduction in precipitation in the northern portion of the monsoon close to the dust emissions region. This results in an enhancement of precipitation to the south. While dusts cause the lower troposphere to stabilize, upper tropospheric cooling makes the region more prone to intense deep convection as is evident by a simulated increase in extreme precipitation. In a companion paper, the impacts of dust emissions on future West African climate are investigated.

The response of European and Asian climate to global and regional aerosol emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Laura; Dunstone, Nick; Highwood, Eleanor; Bollasina, Massimo; Dong, Buwen; Sutton, Rowan

2017-04-01

Asia has the world's highest anthropogenic aerosol loading and has experienced a dramatic increase in emissions since the 1950s, which has continued in the 21st century, in stark contrast with European (and North American) emissions which started to decrease in the 1970s. We use a set of transient coupled model experiments (HadGEM2-GC2) to explore the regional climate effects of anthropogenic aerosol changes since the 1980s, with a focus on the European and Asian responses. Comparing simulations with globally varying aerosol emissions to an equivalent set with Asian emissions fixed at their 1971-1980 mean over Asia, we identify the contribution of Asian emissions to the total impact. Identifying thermodynamic and dynamic responses to global and regional aerosol changes, we diagnose atmospheric teleconnections and their interactions with local processes, and the mechanisms by which aerosol affects both European and Asian climate. It is found that Asian aerosols led to substantial changes in Asian climate, weakening the summer monsoon, which is a key driver of the observed precipitation changes there in recent decades. Asian emissions are also able to induce planetary-scale teleconnection patterns in both winter and summer. The impact of the regional diabatic heating anomaly propagates remotely by exciting northern hemisphere wave-trains which, enhanced by regional feedbacks, cause changes in near-surface climate over Europe. To examine the robustness of the mechanisms we identify in HadGEM2, we analyse similar sets of experiments from NorESM1-M and GFDL-CM3: models with very different climatologies and representations of aerosol processes.

Collaborative Research: Quantifying the Uncertainties of Aerosol Indirect Effects and Impacts on Decadal-Scale Climate Variability in NCAR CAM5 and CESM1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nenes, Athanasios

The goal of this proposed project is to assess the climatic importance and sensitivity of aerosol indirect effect (AIE) to cloud and aerosol processes and feedbacks, which include organic aerosol hygroscopicity, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation kinetics, Giant CCN, cloud-scale entrainment, ice nucleation in mixed-phase and cirrus clouds, and treatment of subgrid variability of vertical velocity. A key objective was to link aerosol, cloud microphysics and dynamics feedbacks in CAM5 with a suite of internally consistent and integrated parameterizations that provide the appropriate degrees of freedom to capture the various aspects of the aerosol indirect effect. The proposal integrated newmore » parameterization elements into the cloud microphysics, moist turbulence and aerosol modules used by the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model version 5 (CAM5). The CAM5 model was then used to systematically quantify the uncertainties of aerosol indirect effects through a series of sensitivity tests with present-day and preindustrial aerosol emissions. New parameterization elements were developed as a result of these efforts, and new diagnostic tools & methodologies were also developed to quantify the impacts of aerosols on clouds and climate within fully coupled models. Observations were used to constrain key uncertainties in the aerosol-cloud links. Advanced sensitivity tools were developed and implements to probe the drivers of cloud microphysical variability with unprecedented temporal and spatial scale. All these results have been published in top and high impact journals (or are in the final stages of publication). This proposal has also supported a number of outstanding graduate students.« less

Easy Volcanic Aerosol (EVA v1.0): an idealized forcing generator for climate simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toohey, Matthew; Stevens, Bjorn; Schmidt, Hauke; Timmreck, Claudia

2016-11-01

Stratospheric sulfate aerosols from volcanic eruptions have a significant impact on the Earth's climate. To include the effects of volcanic eruptions in climate model simulations, the Easy Volcanic Aerosol (EVA) forcing generator provides stratospheric aerosol optical properties as a function of time, latitude, height, and wavelength for a given input list of volcanic eruption attributes. EVA is based on a parameterized three-box model of stratospheric transport and simple scaling relationships used to derive mid-visible (550 nm) aerosol optical depth and aerosol effective radius from stratospheric sulfate mass. Precalculated look-up tables computed from Mie theory are used to produce wavelength-dependent aerosol extinction, single scattering albedo, and scattering asymmetry factor values. The structural form of EVA and the tuning of its parameters are chosen to produce best agreement with the satellite-based reconstruction of stratospheric aerosol properties following the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, and with prior millennial-timescale forcing reconstructions, including the 1815 eruption of Tambora. EVA can be used to produce volcanic forcing for climate models which is based on recent observations and physical understanding but internally self-consistent over any timescale of choice. In addition, EVA is constructed so as to allow for easy modification of different aspects of aerosol properties, in order to be used in model experiments to help advance understanding of what aspects of the volcanic aerosol are important for the climate system.

A Strategy to Assess Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing of Climate Using Satellite Radiation Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Yoram J.; Tanre, Didier; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Atmospheric aerosols have a complex internal chemical composition and optical properties. Therefore it is difficult to model their impact on redistribution and absorption of solar radiation, and the consequent impact on atmospheric dynamics and climate. The use in climate models of isolated aerosol parameters retrieved from satellite data (e.g. optical thickness) may result in inconsistent calculations, if the model assumptions differ from these of the satellite retrieval schemes. Here we suggest a strategy to assess the direct impact of aerosol on the radiation budget at the top and bottom of the atmosphere using satellite and ground based measurements of the spectral solar radiation scattered by the aerosol. This method ensures consistent use of the satellite data and increases its accuracy. For Kaufman and Tanre: Strategy for aerosol direct forcing anthropogenic aerosol in the fine mode (e.g. biomass burning smoke and urban pollution) consistent use of satellite derived optical thickness can yield the aerosol impact on the spectral solar flux with accuracy an order of magnitude better than the optical thickness itself. For example, a simulated monthly average smoke optical thickness of 0.5 at 0.55 microns (forcing of 40-50 W/sq m) derived with an error of 20%, while the forcing can be measured directly with an error of only 0-2 W/sq m. Another example, the effect of large dust particles on reflection of solar flux can be derived three times better than retrievals of optical thickness. Since aerosol impacts not only the top of the atmosphere but also the surface irradiation, a combination of satellite and ground based measurements of the spectral flux, can be the most direct mechanism to evaluate the aerosol effect on climate and assimilate it in climate models. The strategy is applied to measurements from SCAR-B and the Tarfox experiments. In SCAR-B aircraft spectral data are used to derive the 24 hour radiative forcing of smoke at the top of the atmosphere of

An overview of geoengineering of climate using stratospheric sulphate aerosols

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rasch, Philip J.; Tilmes, S.; Turco, Richard P.

2010-01-01

We provide an overview of geoengineering by stratospheric sulphate aerosols. The state of understanding about this topic as of early 2008 is reviewed, summarizing the past 30 years of work in the area, highlighting some very recent studies using climate models, and discussing methods used to deliver sulphur species to the stratosphere. The studies reviewed here suggest that sulphate aerosols can counteract the globally averaged temperature increase associated with increasing greenhouse gases, and reduce changes to some other components of the Earth system. There are likely to be remaining regional climate changes after geoengineering, with some regions experiencing significant changesmore » in temperature or precipitation. The aerosols also serve as surfaces for heterogeneous chemistry resulting in increased ozone depletion. The delivery of sulphur species to the stratosphere in a way that will produce particles of the right size is shown to be a complex and potentially very difficult task. Two simple delivery scenarios are explored, but similar exercises will be needed for other suggested delivery mechanisms. While the introduction of the geoengineering source of sulphate aerosol will perturb the sulphur cycle of the stratosphere signicantly, it is a small perturbation to the total (stratosphere and troposphere) sulphur cycle. The geoengineering source would thus be a small contributor to the total global source of ‘acid rain’ that could be compensated for through improved pollution control of anthropogenic tropospheric sources. Some areas of research remain unexplored. Although ozone may be depleted, with a consequent increase to solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) energy reaching the surface and a potential impact on health and biological populations, the aerosols will also scatter and attenuate this part of the energy spectrum, and this may compensate the UVB enhancement associated with ozone depletion. The aerosol will also change the ratio of diffuse to direct

An overview of geoengineering of climate using stratospheric sulphate aerosols.

PubMed

Rasch, Philip J; Tilmes, Simone; Turco, Richard P; Robock, Alan; Oman, Luke; Chen, Chih-Chieh; Stenchikov, Georgiy L; Garcia, Rolando R

2008-11-13

We provide an overview of geoengineering by stratospheric sulphate aerosols. The state of understanding about this topic as of early 2008 is reviewed, summarizing the past 30 years of work in the area, highlighting some very recent studies using climate models, and discussing methods used to deliver sulphur species to the stratosphere. The studies reviewed here suggest that sulphate aerosols can counteract the globally averaged temperature increase associated with increasing greenhouse gases, and reduce changes to some other components of the Earth system. There are likely to be remaining regional climate changes after geoengineering, with some regions experiencing significant changes in temperature or precipitation. The aerosols also serve as surfaces for heterogeneous chemistry resulting in increased ozone depletion. The delivery of sulphur species to the stratosphere in a way that will produce particles of the right size is shown to be a complex and potentially very difficult task. Two simple delivery scenarios are explored, but similar exercises will be needed for other suggested delivery mechanisms. While the introduction of the geoengineering source of sulphate aerosol will perturb the sulphur cycle of the stratosphere signicantly, it is a small perturbation to the total (stratosphere and troposphere) sulphur cycle. The geoengineering source would thus be a small contributor to the total global source of 'acid rain' that could be compensated for through improved pollution control of anthropogenic tropospheric sources. Some areas of research remain unexplored. Although ozone may be depleted, with a consequent increase to solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) energy reaching the surface and a potential impact on health and biological populations, the aerosols will also scatter and attenuate this part of the energy spectrum, and this may compensate the UVB enhancement associated with ozone depletion. The aerosol will also change the ratio of diffuse to direct energy

The Impact of Aerosol Particle Mixing State on the Hygroscopicity of Sea Spray Aerosol.

PubMed

Schill, Steven R; Collins, Douglas B; Lee, Christopher; Morris, Holly S; Novak, Gordon A; Prather, Kimberly A; Quinn, Patricia K; Sultana, Camille M; Tivanski, Alexei V; Zimmermann, Kathryn; Cappa, Christopher D; Bertram, Timothy H

2015-06-24

Aerosol particles influence global climate by determining cloud droplet number concentrations, brightness, and lifetime. Primary aerosol particles, such as those produced from breaking waves in the ocean, display large particle-particle variability in chemical composition, morphology, and physical phase state, all of which affect the ability of individual particles to accommodate water and grow into cloud droplets. Despite such diversity in molecular composition, there is a paucity of methods available to assess how particle-particle variability in chemistry translates to corresponding differences in aerosol hygroscopicity. Here, an approach has been developed that allows for characterization of the distribution of aerosol hygroscopicity within a chemically complex population of atmospheric particles. This methodology, when applied to the interpretation of nascent sea spray aerosol, provides a quantitative framework for connecting results obtained using molecular mimics generated in the laboratory with chemically complex ambient aerosol. We show that nascent sea spray aerosol, generated in situ in the Atlantic Ocean, displays a broad distribution of particle hygroscopicities, indicative of a correspondingly broad distribution of particle chemical compositions. Molecular mimics of sea spray aerosol organic material were used in the laboratory to assess the volume fractions and molecular functionality required to suppress sea spray aerosol hygroscopicity to the extent indicated by field observations. We show that proper accounting for the distribution and diversity in particle hygroscopicity and composition are important to the assessment of particle impacts on clouds and global climate.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the ‘climate sensitivity’). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through a combinationmore » of laboratory and field measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important SOA-relevant processes. Therefore, major gaps exist at present between current measurement-based knowledge on the one hand and model implementation of organic aerosols on the other. The critical review herein summarizes some of the important developments in understanding SOA formation that could potentially have large impacts on our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and climate. We highlight the importance of some recently discovered processes and properties that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. In addition, this review also highlights some of the important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions, such as the role of sulfate and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) on SOA formation from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Studies that relate the observed evolution of organic

Quantitative impact of aerosols on numerical weather prediction. Part I: Direct radiative forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marquis, J. W.; Zhang, J.; Reid, J. S.; Benedetti, A.; Christensen, M.

2017-12-01

While the effects of aerosols on climate have been extensively studied over the past two decades, the impacts of aerosols on operational weather forecasts have not been carefully quantified. Despite this lack of quantification, aerosol plumes can impact weather forecasts directly by reducing surface reaching solar radiation and indirectly through affecting remotely sensed data that are used for weather forecasts. In part I of this study, the direct impact of smoke aerosol plumes on surface temperature forecasts are quantified using a smoke aerosol event affecting the United States Upper-Midwest in 2015. NCEP, ECMWF and UKMO model forecast surface temperature uncertainties are studied with respect to aerosol loading. Smoke aerosol direct cooling efficiencies are derived and the potential of including aerosol particles in operational forecasts is discussed, with the consideration of aerosol trends, especially over regions with heavy aerosol loading.

Coupled Climate Model Simulations to Bracket the Impacts of Increasing Asian Aerosols Emissions and Aggressive Future Clean Air Policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubey, M. K.; Zhang, Y.; Sun, S.; Olsen, S.; Dean, S.; Bleck, R.; Chylek, P.; Lohmann, U.

2007-12-01

We report ensemble simulations of the climatic impacts of changing anthropogenic aerosols (sulfate, organic and black carbon), which bracket two policy scenarios: increased emissions over China and India by a factor of three over current levels and a global reduction of aerosols by a factor of ten, using the NCAR-CCSM3 and NASA- GISS coupled ocean atmosphere models. Tripling the anthropogenic aerosols over China and India has a small cooling effect (about -0.12°C) on the global mean surface air temperature with a slight reduction in global mean precipitation by ~ -0.8%. On the other hand, global reduction of anthropogenic aerosols by a factor of ten would warm the global surface temperatures by 0.4 °C - 0.8 °C in less than 10 years after the reduction takes place as well as an increase in global precipitation by 3.0% - 3.3%. Comparisons of NCAR and NASA model simulations also suggest that the indirect effects of aerosols are about 1-2 times the direct effects of aerosols. Tripling Asian anthropogenic aerosols results in regional cooling and a reduction in precipitation primarily in Asia, with cooling (warming) also noted over the high latitudes of Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. Warming and increase in precipitation in the case of global reduction of aerosols are concentrated mainly over polluted land areas in both hemispheres. Tropical regions experience large changes in precipitation in both scenarios. We provide new insights into the climate model sensitivities of global mean temperatures and rainfall to aerosol forcing. Our results underscore the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas accumulation rates as the world reduces air pollution to improve human health and that potential increased Asian pollution, offsets only a small fraction of the warming by greenhouse gases.

Transport of Aerosols: Regional and Global Implications for Climate, Weather, and Air Quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Yu, Hongbin; Bian, Huisheng; Remer, Lorraine; Kahn, Ralph

2008-01-01

Long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols can have a significant impact on global climate, regional weather, and local air quality. In this study, we use a global model GOCART together with satellite data and ground-based measurements to assess the emission and transport of pollution, dust, biomass burning, and volcanic aerosols and their implications. In particular, we will show the impact of emissions and long-range transport of aerosols from major pollution and dust source regions to (1) the surface air quality, (2) the atmospheric heating rates, and (3) surface radiation change near the source and downwind regions.

Regional and Global Aspects of Aerosols in Western Africa: From Air Quality to Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Kucsera, Tom; Spinhime, Jim; Palm, Stephen; Holben, Brent; Ginoux, Paul

2006-01-01

Western Africa is one of the most important aerosol source regions in the world. Major aerosol sources include dust from the world's largest desert Sahara, biomass burning from the Sahel, pollution aerosols from local sources and long-range transport from Europe, and biogenic sources from vegetation. Because these sources have large seasonal variations, the aerosol composition over the western Africa changes significantly with time. These aerosols exert large influences on local air quality and regional climate. In this study, we use the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model to analyze satellite lidar data from the GLAS instrument on the ICESat and the sunphotometer data from the ground-based network AERONET taken in both the wet (September - October 2003) and dry (February - March 2004) seasons over western Africa. We will quantify the seasonal variations of aerosol sources and compositions and aerosol spatial (horizontal and vertical) distributions over western Africa. We will also assess the climate impact of western African aerosols. Such studies will be applied to support the international project, Africa Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) and to analyze the AMMA data.

Arctic climate response to geoengineering with stratospheric sulfate aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCusker, K. E.; Battisti, D. S.; Bitz, C. M.

2010-12-01

Recent warming and record summer sea-ice area minimums have spurred expressions of concern for arctic ecosystems, permafrost, and polar bear populations, among other things. Geoengineering by stratospheric sulfate aerosol injections to deliberately cancel the anthropogenic temperature rise has been put forth as a possible solution to restoring Arctic (and global) climate to modern conditions. However, climate is particularly sensitive in the northern high latitudes, responding easily to radiative forcing changes. To that end, we explore the extent to which tropical injections of stratospheric sulfate aerosol can accomplish regional cancellation in the Arctic. We use the Community Climate System Model version 3 global climate model to execute simulations with combinations of doubled CO2 and imposed stratospheric sulfate burdens to investigate the effects on high latitude climate. We further explore the sensitivity of the polar climate to ocean dynamics by running a suite of simulations with and without ocean dynamics, transiently and to equilibrium respectively. We find that, although annual, global mean temperature cancellation is accomplished, there is over-cooling on land in Arctic summer, but residual warming in Arctic winter, which is largely due to atmospheric circulation changes. Furthermore, the spatial extent of these features and their concurrent impacts on sea-ice properties are modified by the inclusion of ocean dynamical feedbacks.

Evaluating the Impact of Aerosols on Numerical Weather Prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitas, Saulo; Silva, Arlindo; Benedetti, Angela; Grell, Georg; Members, Wgne; Zarzur, Mauricio

2015-04-01

The Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (WMO, http://www.wmo.int/pages/about/sec/rescrosscut/resdept_wgne.html) has organized an exercise to evaluate the impact of aerosols on NWP. This exercise will involve regional and global models currently used for weather forecast by the operational centers worldwide and aims at addressing the following questions: a) How important are aerosols for predicting the physical system (NWP, seasonal, climate) as distinct from predicting the aerosols themselves? b) How important is atmospheric model quality for air quality forecasting? c) What are the current capabilities of NWP models to simulate aerosol impacts on weather prediction? Toward this goal we have selected 3 strong or persistent events of aerosol pollution worldwide that could be fairly represented in current NWP models and that allowed for an evaluation of the aerosol impact on weather prediction. The selected events includes a strong dust storm that blew off the coast of Libya and over the Mediterranean, an extremely severe episode of air pollution in Beijing and surrounding areas, and an extreme case of biomass burning smoke in Brazil. The experimental design calls for simulations with and without explicitly accounting for aerosol feedbacks in the cloud and radiation parameterizations. In this presentation we will summarize the results of this study focusing on the evaluation of model performance in terms of its ability to faithfully simulate aerosol optical depth, and the assessment of the aerosol impact on the predictions of near surface wind, temperature, humidity, rainfall and the surface energy budget.

Challenges to producing a long-term stratospheric aerosol climatology for chemistry and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomason, Larry; Vernier, Jean-Paul; Bourassa, Adam; Rieger, Landon; Luo, Beiping; Peter, Thomas; Arfeuille, Florian

2016-04-01

Stratospheric aerosol data sets are key inputs for climate models (GCMs, CCMs) particularly for understanding the role of volcanoes on climate and as a surrogate for understanding the potential of human-derived stratospheric aerosol as mitigation for global warming. In addition to supporting activities of individual climate models, the data sets also act as a historical input to the activities of SPARC's Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) and the World Climate Research Programme's Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). One such data set was produced in 2004 as a part of the SPARC Assessment of Stratospheric Aerosol Properties (ASAP), extending from 1979 and 2004. It was primarily constructed from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment series of instruments but supplemented by data from other space-based sources and a number of ground-based and airborne instruments. Updates to this data set have expanded the timeframe to span from 1850 through 2014 through the inclusion of data from additional sources, such as photometer data and ice core analyses. Fundamentally, there are limitations to the reliability of the optical properties of aerosol inferred from even the most complete single instrument data sets. At the same time, the heterogeneous nature of the underlying data to this historical data set produces considerable challenges to the production of a climate data set which is both homogeneous and reliable throughout its timespan. In this presentation, we will discuss the impact of this heterogeneity showing specific examples such as the SAGE II to OSIRIS/CALIPSO transition in 2005. Potential solutions to these issues will also be discussed.

An Investigation of the Radiative Effects and Climate Feedbacks of Sea Ice Sources of Sea Salt Aerosol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horowitz, H. M.; Alexander, B.; Bitz, C. M.; Jaegle, L.; Burrows, S. M.

2017-12-01

In polar regions, sea ice is a major source of sea salt aerosol through lofting of saline frost flowers or blowing saline snow from the sea ice surface. Under continued climate warming, an ice-free Arctic in summer with only first-year, more saline sea ice in winter is likely. Previous work has focused on climate impacts in summer from increasing open ocean sea salt aerosol emissions following complete sea ice loss in the Arctic, with conflicting results suggesting no net radiative effect or a negative climate feedback resulting from a strong first aerosol indirect effect. However, the radiative forcing from changes to the sea ice sources of sea salt aerosol in a future, warmer climate has not previously been explored. Understanding how sea ice loss affects the Arctic climate system requires investigating both open-ocean and sea ice sources of sea-salt aerosol and their potential interactions. Here, we implement a blowing snow source of sea salt aerosol into the Community Earth System Model (CESM) dynamically coupled to the latest version of the Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE5). Snow salinity is a key parameter affecting blowing snow sea salt emissions and previous work has assumed constant regional snow salinity over sea ice. We develop a parameterization for dynamic snow salinity in the sea ice model and examine how its spatial and temporal variability impacts the production of sea salt from blowing snow. We evaluate and constrain the snow salinity parameterization using available observations. Present-day coupled CESM-CICE5 simulations of sea salt aerosol concentrations including sea ice sources are evaluated against in situ and satellite (CALIOP) observations in polar regions. We then quantify the present-day radiative forcing from the addition of blowing snow sea salt aerosol with respect to aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. The relative contributions of sea ice vs. open ocean sources of sea salt aerosol to radiative forcing in polar regions is

Remote Sensing of Aerosol and their Radiative Forcing of Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Yoram J.; Tanre, Didier; Remer, Lorraine A.

1999-01-01

spectral flux reaching the surface. Effort to introduce remote sensing from lidars will literally additional dimension to aerosol remote sensing. The vertical dimension is a critical link between the global satellite observations and modeling of aerosol transport. Lidars are also critical to study aerosol impact on cloud microphysics and reflectance. Both lidar ground networks and satellite systems are in development. This new capability is expected to put remote sensing in the forefront of aerosol and climate studies. Together with field experiments, chemical analysis and chemical transport models we anticipate, in the next decade, to be able to resolve some of the outstanding questions regarding the role of aerosol in climate, in atmospheric chemistry and its influence on human health and life on this planet.

Whitecaps, sea-salt aerosols, and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anguelova, Magdalena Dimitrova

Oceanic whitecaps are the major source of sea-salt aerosols. Because these aerosols are dominant in remote marine air, they control the radiative properties of the clean background atmosphere by scattering sunlight, changing cloud properties and lifetime, and providing media for chemical reactions. Including sea-salt effects in climate models improves predictions, but simulating their generation is first necessary. To make the sea-salt generation function currently used in climate models more relevant for aerosol investigations, this study proposes two modifications. First, the conventional relation between whitecap coverage, W, and the 10-meter wind speed, U10, used in typical generation functions is expanded to include additional factors that affect whitecaps and sea-salt aerosol formation. Second, the sea-salt generation function is extended to smaller sizes; sea-salt aerosol with initial radii from 0.4 to 20 mum can now be modeled. To achieve these goals, this thesis develops a new method for estimating whitecap coverage on a global scale using satellite measurements of the brightness temperature of the ocean surface. Whitecap coverage evaluated with this method incorporates the effects of atmospheric stability, sea-surface temperature, salinity, wind fetch, wind duration, and the amount of surface-active material. Assimilating satellite-derived values for whitecap coverage in the sea-salt generation function incorporates the effects of all environmental factors on sea-salt production and predicts realistic sea-salt aerosol loadings into the atmosphere. An extensive database of whitecap coverage and sea-salt aerosol fluxes has been compiled with the new method and is used to investigate their spatial and temporal characteristics. The composite effect of all environmental factors suggests a more uniform latitudinal distribution of whitecaps and sea-salt aerosols than that predicted from wind speed alone. The effect of sea-surface temperature, TS, is

Impact of aerosol size representation on modeling aerosol-cloud interactions

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Y.; Easter, R. C.; Ghan, S. J.; ...

2002-11-07

In this study, we use a 1-D version of a climate-aerosol-chemistry model with both modal and sectional aerosol size representations to evaluate the impact of aerosol size representation on modeling aerosol-cloud interactions in shallow stratiform clouds observed during the 2nd Aerosol Characterization Experiment. Both the modal (with prognostic aerosol number and mass or prognostic aerosol number, surface area and mass, referred to as the Modal-NM and Modal-NSM) and the sectional approaches (with 12 and 36 sections) predict total number and mass for interstitial and activated particles that are generally within several percent of references from a high resolution 108-section approach.more » The modal approach with prognostic aerosol mass but diagnostic number (referred to as the Modal-M) cannot accurately predict the total particle number and surface areas, with deviations from the references ranging from 7-161%. The particle size distributions are sensitive to size representations, with normalized absolute differences of up to 12% and 37% for the 36- and 12-section approaches, and 30%, 39%, and 179% for the Modal-NSM, Modal-NM, and Modal-M, respectively. For the Modal-NSM and Modal-NM, differences from the references are primarily due to the inherent assumptions and limitations of the modal approach. In particular, they cannot resolve the abrupt size transition between the interstitial and activated aerosol fractions. For the 12- and 36-section approaches, differences are largely due to limitations of the parameterized activation for non-log-normal size distributions, plus the coarse resolution for the 12-section case. Differences are larger both with higher aerosol (i.e., less complete activation) and higher SO2 concentrations (i.e., greater modification of the initial aerosol distribution).« less

Climate Impact of Solar Variability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schatten, Kenneth H. (Editor); Arking, Albert (Editor)

1990-01-01

The conference on The Climate Impact of Solar Variability, was held at Goddard Space Flight Center from April 24 to 27, 1990. In recent years they developed a renewed interest in the potential effects of increasing greenhouse gases on climate. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and the chlorofluorocarbons have been increasing at rates that could significantly change climate. There is considerable uncertainty over the magnitude of this anthropogenic change. The climate system is very complex, with feedback processes that are not fully understood. Moreover, there are two sources of natural climate variability (volcanic aerosols and solar variability) added to the anthropogenic changes which may confuse our interpretation of the observed temperature record. Thus, if we could understand the climatic impact of the natural variability, it would aid our interpretation and understanding of man-made climate changes.

Observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties regulated by cloud/aerosol types

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, B.; Gu, Y.; Liou, K. N.; Jiang, J. H.; Li, Q.; Liu, X.; Huang, L.; Wang, Y.; Su, H.

2016-12-01

The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds (consisting only of ice) represent one of the largest uncertainties in global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time to the present. The observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties has been quite limited and showed conflicting results, partly because previous observational studies did not consider the distinct features of different ice cloud and aerosol types. Using 9-year satellite observations, we find that, for ice clouds generated from deep convection, cloud thickness, cloud optical thickness (COT), and ice cloud fraction increase and decrease with small-to-moderate and high aerosol loadings, respectively. For in-situ formed ice clouds, however, the preceding cloud properties increase monotonically and more sharply with aerosol loadings. The case is more complicated for ice crystal effective radius (Rei). For both convection-generated and in-situ ice clouds, the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount in conjunction with several other meteorological parameters, but the sensitivities of Rei to aerosols under the same water vapor amount differ remarkably between the two ice cloud types. As a result, overall Rei slightly increases with aerosol loading for convection-generated ice clouds, but decreases for in-situ ice clouds. When aerosols are decomposed into different types, an increase in the loading of smoke aerosols generally leads to a decrease in COT of convection-generated ice clouds, while the reverse is true for dust and anthropogenic pollution. In contrast, an increase in the loading of any aerosol type can significantly enhance COT of in-situ ice clouds. The modulation of the aerosol impacts by cloud/aerosol types is demonstrated and reproduced by simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Adequate and accurate representations of the impact of different cloud/aerosol types in climate models are crucial for reducing the

Observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties regulated by cloud/aerosol types

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, B.; Gu, Y.; Liou, K. N.; Jiang, J. H.; Li, Q.; Liu, X.; Huang, L.; Wang, Y.; Su, H.

2017-12-01

The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds (consisting only of ice) represent one of the largest uncertainties in global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time to the present. The observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties has been quite limited and showed conflicting results, partly because previous observational studies did not consider the distinct features of different ice cloud and aerosol types. Using 9-year satellite observations, we find that, for ice clouds generated from deep convection, cloud thickness, cloud optical thickness (COT), and ice cloud fraction increase and decrease with small-to-moderate and high aerosol loadings, respectively. For in-situ formed ice clouds, however, the preceding cloud properties increase monotonically and more sharply with aerosol loadings. The case is more complicated for ice crystal effective radius (Rei). For both convection-generated and in-situ ice clouds, the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount in conjunction with several other meteorological parameters, but the sensitivities of Rei to aerosols under the same water vapor amount differ remarkably between the two ice cloud types. As a result, overall Rei slightly increases with aerosol loading for convection-generated ice clouds, but decreases for in-situ ice clouds. When aerosols are decomposed into different types, an increase in the loading of smoke aerosols generally leads to a decrease in COT of convection-generated ice clouds, while the reverse is true for dust and anthropogenic pollution. In contrast, an increase in the loading of any aerosol type can significantly enhance COT of in-situ ice clouds. The modulation of the aerosol impacts by cloud/aerosol types is demonstrated and reproduced by simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Adequate and accurate representations of the impact of different cloud/aerosol types in climate models are crucial for reducing the

Constraining the long-term climate reponse to stratospheric sulfate aerosols injection by the short-term volcanic climate response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plazzotta, M.; Seferian, R.; Douville, H.; Kravitz, B.; Tilmes, S.; Tjiputra, J.

2016-12-01

Rising greenhouse gas emissions are leading to global warming and climate change, which will have multiple impacts on human society. Geoengineering methods like solar radiation management by stratospheric sulfate aerosols injection (SSA-SRM) aim at treating the symptoms of climate change by reducing the global temperature. Since a real-world testing cannot be implemented, Earth System Models (ESMs) are useful tools to assess the climate impacts of such geoengineering methods. However, coordinated simulations performed with the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) have shown that climate cooling in response to a continuous injection of 5Tg of SO2 per year under RCP45 future projection (the so-called G4 experiment) differs substantially between ESMs. Here, we employ a volcano analog approach to constrain the climate response in SSA-SRM geoengineering simulations across an ensemble of 10 ESMs. We identify an emergent relationship between the long-term cooling in responses to the mitigation of the clear-sky surface downwelling shortwave radiation (RSDSCS), and the short-term cooling related to the change in RSDSCS during the major tropical volcanic eruptions observed over the historical period (1850-2005). This relationship explains almost 80% of the multi-model spread. Combined with contemporary observations of the latest volcanic eruptions (satellite observations and model reanalyzes), this relationship provides a tight constraint on the climate impacts of SSA-SRM. We estimate that a continuous injection of SO2 aerosols into the stratosphere will reduce the global average temperature of continental land surface by 0.47 K per W m-2, impacting both hydrological and carbon cycles. Compared with the unconstrained ESMs ensemble (range from 0.32 to 0.92 K per W m-2 ), our estimate represents much higher confidence ways to assess the impacts of SSA-SRM on the climate while ruling the most extreme projections of the unconstrained ensemble extremely unlikely.

Aerosol Forcing of Climate Change and Anomalous Atmospheric Absorption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, James E.

2000-01-01

The forcings that drive long-term climate change are not known with an accuracy sufficient to define future climate change, Anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are well-measured, cause a strong positive (warming) forcing. But other, poorly measured, anthropogenic forcings, especially changes of atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and land-use patterns, cause a negative forcing that tends to offset greenhouse warming. We will focus on the role of aerosols as a climate forcing mechanism and the contribution that aerosols might make to the so-called "anomalous" atmospheric absorption that has been inferred from some atmospheric measurements.

Aerosol Forcing of Climate Change and "Anomalous" Atmospheric Absorption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, James E.

1999-01-01

The forcings that drive long-term climate change are not known with an accuracy sufficient to define future climate change. Anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are well-measured, cause a strong positive (warming) forcing. But other, poorly measured, anthropogenic forcings, especially changes of atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and land-use patterns, cause a negative forcing that tends to offset greenhouse warming. We will focus on the role of aerosols as a climate forcing mechanism and the contribution that aerosols might make to the so- called "anomalous" atmospheric absorption that has been inferred from some atmospheric measurements.

Impact of Emissions and Long-Range Transport on Multi-Decadal Aerosol Trends: Implications for Air Quality and Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian

2012-01-01

We present a global model analysis of the impact of long-range transport and anthropogenic emissions on the aerosol trends in the major pollution regions in the northern hemisphere and in the Arctic in the past three decades. We will use the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model to analyze the multi-spatial and temporal scale data, including observations from Terra, Aqua, and CALIPSO satellites and from the long-term surface monitoring stations. We will analyze the source attribution (SA) and source-receptor (SR) relationships in North America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, and the Arctic at the surface and free troposphere and establish the quantitative linkages between emissions from different source regions. We will discuss the implications for regional air quality and climate change.

Resolving the Aerosol Piece of the Global Climate Picture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahn, R. A.

2017-12-01

Factors affecting our ability to calculate climate forcing and estimate model predictive skill include direct radiative effects of aerosols and their indirect effects on clouds. Several decades of Earth-observing satellite observations have produced a global aerosol column-amount (AOD) record, but an aerosol microphysical property record required for climate and many air quality applications is lacking. Surface-based photometers offer qualitative aerosol-type classification, and several space-based instruments map aerosol air-mass types under favorable conditions. However, aerosol hygroscopicity, mass extinction efficiency (MEE), and quantitative light absorption, must be obtained from in situ measurements. Completing the aerosol piece of the climate picture requires three elements: (1) continuing global AOD and qualitative type mapping from space-based, multi-angle imagers and aerosol vertical distribution from near-source stereo imaging and downwind lidar, (2) systematic, quantitative in situ observations of particle properties unobtainable from space, and (3) continuing transport modeling to connect observations to sources, and extrapolate limited sampling in space and time. At present, the biggest challenges to producing the needed aerosol data record are: filling gaps in particle property observations, maintaining global observing capabilities, and putting the pieces together. Obtaining the PDFs of key particle properties, adequately sampled, is now the leading observational deficiency. One simplifying factor is that, for a given aerosol source and season, aerosol amounts often vary, but particle properties tend to be repeatable. SAM-CAAM (Systematic Aircraft Measurements to Characterize Aerosol Air Masses), a modest aircraft payload deployed frequently could fill this gap, adding value to the entire satellite data record, improving aerosol property assumptions in retrieval algorithms, and providing MEEs to translate between remote-sensing optical constraints

Impacts of Aerosol Direct Effects on the South Asian climate: Assessment of Radiative Feedback Processes Using Model Simulations and Satellite/surface Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Gautam, R.; Lau, W. K.; Tsay, S.; Sun, W.; Kim, K.; Chern, J.; Colarco, P. R.; Hsu, N. C.; Lin, N.

2011-12-01

Current assessment of aerosol radiative effect is hindered by our incomplete knowledge of aerosol optical properties, especially absorption, and our current inability to quantify physical and microphysical processes. In this research, we investigate direct aerosol radiative effect over heavy aerosol loading areas (e.g., Indo-Gangetic Plains, South/East Asia) and its feedbacks on the South Asian climate during the pre-monsoon season (March-June) using the Purdue Regional Climate Model (PRCM) with prescribed aerosol data derived by the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5). Our modeling domain covers South and East Asia (60-140E and 0-50N) with spatial resolutions of 45 km in horizontal and 28 layers in vertical. The model is integrated from 15 February to 30 June 2008 continuously without nudging (i.e., only forced by initial/boundary conditions). Two numerical experiments are conducted with and without the aerosol-radiation effects. Both simulations are successful in reproducing the synoptic patterns on seasonal-to-interannual time scales and capturing a pre-monsoon feature of the northward rainfall propagation over Indian region in early June which shown in Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observation. Preliminary result suggests aerosol-radiation interactions mainly alter surface-atmosphere energetics and further result in an adjustment of the vertical temperature distribution in lower atmosphere (below 700 hPa). The modifications of temperature and associated rainfall and circulation feedbacks on the regional climate will be discussed in the presentation. In addition to modeling study, we will also present the most recent results on aerosol properties, regional aerosol absorption, and radiative forcing estimation based on NASA's operational satellite and ground-based remote sensing. Observational results show spatial gradients in aerosol loading and solar absorption accounting over Indo-Gangetic Plains during the pre-monsoon season. The

Climate and health implications of future aerosol emission scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partanen, Antti-Ilari; Landry, Jean-Sébastien; Damon Matthews, H.

2018-02-01

Anthropogenic aerosols have a net cooling effect on climate and also cause adverse health effects by degrading air quality. In this global-scale sensitivity study, we used a combination of the aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAMMOZ and the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model to assess the climate and health effects of aerosols emissions from three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) and two new (LOW and HIGH) aerosol emission scenarios derived from RCP4.5, but that span a wider spectrum of possible future aerosol emissions. All simulations had CO2 emissions and greenhouse gas forcings from RCP4.5. Aerosol forcing declined similarly in the standard RCP aerosol emission scenarios: the aerosol effective radiative forcing (ERF) decreased from -1.3 W m-2 in 2005 to between -0.1 W m-2 and -0.4 W m-2 in 2100. The differences in ERF were substantially larger between LOW (-0.02 W m-2 in 2100) and HIGH (-0.8 W m-2) scenarios. The global mean temperature difference between the simulations with standard RCP aerosol emissions was less than 0.18 °C, whereas the difference between LOW and HIGH reached 0.86 °C in 2061. In LOW, the rate of warming peaked at 0.48 °C per decade in the 2030s, whereas in HIGH it was the lowest of all simulations and never exceeded 0.23 °C per decade. Using present-day population density and baseline mortality rates for all scenarios, PM2.5-induced premature mortality was 2 371 800 deaths per year in 2010 and 525 700 in 2100 with RCP4.5 aerosol emissions; in HIGH, the premature mortality reached its maximum value of 2 780 800 deaths per year in 2030, whereas in LOW the premature mortality at 2030 was below 299 900 deaths per year. Our results show potential trade-offs in aerosol mitigation with respect to climate change and public health as ambitious reduction of aerosol emissions considerably increased warming while decreasing mortality.

A perspective on SOA generated in aerosol water from glyoxal and methylglyoxal and its impacts on climate-relevant aerosol properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sareen, N.; McNeill, V. F.

2011-12-01

In recent years, glyoxal and methylglyoxal have emerged to be potentially important SOA precursors with significant implications for climate-related aerosol properties. Here we will discuss how the chemistry of these and similar organic compounds in aerosol water can affect the aerosol optical and cloud formation properties. Aqueous-phase SOA production from glyoxal and methylglyoxal is a potential source of strongly light-absorbing organics, or "brown carbon". We characterized the kinetics of brown carbon formation from these precursors in mixtures of ammonium sulfate and water using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. This mechanism has been incorporated into a photochemical box model with coupled gas phase-aqueous aerosol chemistry. Methylglyoxal and related compounds also may impact an aerosol's ability to act as a cloud condensation nucleus. We recently showed via pendant drop tensiometry and aerosol chamber studies that uptake of methylglyoxal from the gas phase driven by aqueous-phase oligomerization chemistry is a potentially significant, previously unidentified source of surface-active organic material in aerosols. Results from pendant drop tensiometry showed significantly depressed surface tension in methylglyoxal-ammonium sulfate solutions. We further found that ammonium sulfate particles exposed to gas-phase methylglyoxal in a 3.5 m3 aerosol reaction chamber activate into cloud droplets at sizes up to 15% lower at a given supersaturation than do pure ammonium sulfate particles. The observed enhancement exceeds that predicted based on Henry's Law and our measurements of surface tension depression in bulk solutions, suggesting that surface adsorption of methylglyoxal plays a role in determining CCN activity. Methylglyoxal and similar gas-phase surfactants may be an important and overlooked source of enhanced CCN activity in the atmosphere. To characterize the SOA products formed in these solutions, an Aerosol Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (CIMS) was used

Primary carbonaceous aerosols and climate modeling: Classifications, global emission inventories, and observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, H.; Bond, T.

2004-12-01

Carbonaceous aerosols, including black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), make up a large fraction of the atmospheric aerosols and affect the radiative balance of the earth either by directly scattering and absorbing solar radiation or through indirect influence on cloud optical properties and cloud lifetimes. The major sources of BC and OC emissions are from combustion processes, mainly.fossil-fuel burning, biofuels burning, and open biomass burning. OC is nearly always emitted with BC. Because different combustion practices contribute to the emission of BC and OC to the atmosphere, the magnitude and characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols vary between regions. Since OC mainly scatters light and BC absorbs it, it is possible that OC can oppose the warming effect of BC, so that the net climatic effect of carbonaceous aerosols is not known. There is presently disagreement on whether carbonaceous aerosols produce a net warming or cooling effect on climate. Some differences in model prediction may result from model differences, such as dynamics and treatment of cloud feedbacks. However, large differences also result from initial assumptions about the properties of BC and OC: optical properties, size distribution, and interaction with water. Although there are hundreds of different organic species in atmospheric aerosols, with widely varying properties, global climate models to date have treated organics as one ¡°compound.¡± In addition, emissions of OC are often derived by multiplying BC emissions by a constant factor, so that the balance between these different compounds is assumed. Addressing these critical model assumptions is a necessary step toward estimating the net climatic impact of carbonaceous aerosols, and different human activities. We aim to contribute to this effort by tabulating important climate-relevant properties of both emissions and ambient measurements. Since one single organic ¡°compound¡± is not sufficient to represent all the

The aerosol-monsoon climate system of Asia: A new paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lau, William K. M.

2016-02-01

This commentary is based on a series of recent lectures on aerosol-monsoon interactions I gave at the Beijing Normal University in August 2015. A main theme of the lectures is on a new paradigm of "An Aerosol-Monsoon-Climate-System", which posits that aerosol, like rainfall, cloud, and wind, is an integral component of the monsoon climate system, influencing monsoon weather and climate on all timescales. Here, salient issues discussed in my lectures and my personal perspective regarding interactions between atmospheric dynamics and aerosols from both natural and anthropogenic sources are summarized. My hope is that under this new paradigm, we can break down traditional disciplinary barriers, advance a deeper understanding of weather and climate in monsoon regions, as well as entrain a new generation of geoscientists to strive for a sustainable future for one of the most complex and challenging human-natural climate sub-system of the earth.

Evaluation of climate model aerosol seasonal and spatial variability over Africa using AERONET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horowitz, Hannah M.; Garland, Rebecca M.; Thatcher, Marcus; Landman, Willem A.; Dedekind, Zane; van der Merwe, Jacobus; Engelbrecht, Francois A.

2017-11-01

The sensitivity of climate models to the characterization of African aerosol particles is poorly understood. Africa is a major source of dust and biomass burning aerosols and this represents an important research gap in understanding the impact of aerosols on radiative forcing of the climate system. Here we evaluate the current representation of aerosol particles in the Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) with ground-based remote retrievals across Africa, and additionally provide an analysis of observed aerosol optical depth at 550 nm (AOD550 nm) and Ångström exponent data from 34 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites. Analysis of the 34 long-term AERONET sites confirms the importance of dust and biomass burning emissions to the seasonal cycle and magnitude of AOD550 nm across the continent and the transport of these emissions to regions outside of the continent. In general, CCAM captures the seasonality of the AERONET data across the continent. The magnitude of modeled and observed multiyear monthly average AOD550 nm overlap within ±1 standard deviation of each other for at least 7 months at all sites except the Réunion St Denis Island site (Réunion St. Denis). The timing of modeled peak AOD550 nm in southern Africa occurs 1 month prior to the observed peak, which does not align with the timing of maximum fire counts in the region. For the western and northern African sites, it is evident that CCAM currently overestimates dust in some regions while others (e.g., the Arabian Peninsula) are better characterized. This may be due to overestimated dust lifetime, or that the characterization of the soil for these areas needs to be updated with local information. The CCAM simulated AOD550 nm for the global domain is within the spread of previously published results from CMIP5 and AeroCom experiments for black carbon, organic carbon, and sulfate aerosols. The model's performance provides confidence for using the model to estimate large-scale regional impacts

Impacts of Snow Darkening by Absorbing Aerosols on Eurasian Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Kyu-Myong; Lau, William K M.; Yasunari, Teppei J.; Kim, Maeng-Ki; Koster, Randal D.

2016-01-01

The deposition of absorbing aerosols on snow surfaces reduces snow-albedo and allows snowpack to absorb more sunlight. This so-called snow darkening effect (SDE) accelerates snow melting and leads to surface warming in spring. To examine the impact of SDE on weather and climate during late spring and early summer, two sets of NASA GEOS-5 model simulations with and without SDE are conducted. Results show that SDE-induced surface heating is particularly pronounced in Eurasian regions where significant depositions of dust transported from the North African deserts, and black carbon from biomass burning from Asia and Europe occur. In these regions, the surface heating due to SDE increases surface skin temperature by 3-6 degrees Kelvin near the snowline in spring. Surface energy budget analysis indicates that SDE-induced excess heating is associated with a large increase in surface evaporation, subsequently leading to a significant reduction in soil moisture, and increased risks of drought and heat waves in late spring to early summer. Overall, we find that rainfall deficit combined with SDE-induced dry soil in spring provide favorable condition for summertime heat waves over large regions of Eurasia. Increased frequency of summer heat waves with SDE and the region of maximum increase in heat-wave frequency are found along the snow line, providing evidence that early snowmelt by SDE may increase the risks of extreme summer heat wave. Our results suggest that climate models that do not include SDE may significantly underestimate the effect of global warming over extra-tropical continental regions.

Global Distribution of Solid Ammonium Sulfate Aerosols and their Climate Impact Acting as Ice Nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, C.; Penner, J.

2017-12-01

Laboratory experiments show that liquid ammonium sulfate particles effloresce when RHw is below 34% to become solid and dissolve when RHw is above 79%. Solid ammonium sulfate aerosols can act as heterogeneous ice nuclei particles (INPs) to form ice particles in deposition mode when the relative humidity over ice is above 120%. In this study we used the coupled IMPACT/CAM5 model to track the efflorescence and deliquescence processes of ammonium sulfate. Results show that about 20% of the total simulated pure sulfate aerosol mass is in the solid state and is mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere (NH) from 50 hPa to 200 hPa. When these solid ammonium sulfate aerosols are allowed to act as ice nuclei particles, they act to increase the ice water path in the NH and reduce ice water path in the tropics. The addition of these particles leads to a positive net radiative effect at the TOA ranging from 0.5-0.9 W/m2 depending on the amounts of other ice nuclei particles (e.g., dust, soot) used in the ice nucleation process. The short-term climate feedback shows that the ITCZ shifts northwards and precipitation increases in the NH. There is also an average warming of 0.05-0.1 K near the surface (at 2 meter) in the NH which is most obvious in the Arctic region.

Simulating Aerosol Indirect Effects with Improved Aerosol-Cloud- Precipitation Representations in a Coupled Regional Climate Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yang; Leung, L. Ruby; Fan, Jiwen

This is a collaborative project among North Carolina State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego to address the critical need for an accurate representation of aerosol indirect effect in climate and Earth system models. In this project, we propose to develop and improve parameterizations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation feedbacks in climate models and apply them to study the effect of aerosols and clouds on radiation and hydrologic cycle. Our overall objective is to develop, improve, and evaluate parameterizations to enable more accurate simulations of these feedbacks in high resolution regional and globalmore » climate models.« less

Aerosols and Clouds: In Cahoots to Change Climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berg, Larry

Key knowledge gaps persist despite advances in the scientific understanding of how aerosols and clouds evolve and affect climate. The Two-Column Aerosol Project, or TCAP, was designed to provide a detailed set of observations to tackle this area of unknowns. Led by PNNL atmospheric scientist Larry Berg, ARM's Climate Research Facility was deployed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the 12-month duration of TCAP, which came to a close in June 2013. "We are developing new tools to look at particle chemistry, like our mass spectrometer used in TCAP that can tell us the individual chemical composition of an aerosol," saidmore » Berg. "Then, we'll run our models and compare it with the data that we have to make sure we're getting correct answers and make sure our climate models are reflecting the best information."« less

Aerosols and Clouds: In Cahoots to Change Climate

ScienceCinema

Berg, Larry

2018-01-16

Key knowledge gaps persist despite advances in the scientific understanding of how aerosols and clouds evolve and affect climate. The Two-Column Aerosol Project, or TCAP, was designed to provide a detailed set of observations to tackle this area of unknowns. Led by PNNL atmospheric scientist Larry Berg, ARM's Climate Research Facility was deployed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the 12-month duration of TCAP, which came to a close in June 2013. "We are developing new tools to look at particle chemistry, like our mass spectrometer used in TCAP that can tell us the individual chemical composition of an aerosol," said Berg. "Then, we'll run our models and compare it with the data that we have to make sure we're getting correct answers and make sure our climate models are reflecting the best information."

Impacts of aerosol-cloud interactions on past and future changes in tropospheric composition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Unger, N.; Menon, S.; Shindell, D. T.

2009-02-02

The development of effective emissions control policies that are beneficial to both climate and air quality requires a detailed understanding of all the feedbacks in the atmospheric composition and climate system. We perform sensitivity studies with a global atmospheric composition-climate model to assess the impact of aerosols on tropospheric chemistry through their modification on clouds, aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI). The model includes coupling between both tropospheric gas-phase and aerosol chemistry and aerosols and liquid-phase clouds. We investigate past impacts from preindustrial (PI) to present day (PD) and future impacts from PD to 2050 (for the moderate IPCC A1B scenario) that embracemore » a wide spectrum of precursor emission changes and consequential ACI. The aerosol indirect effect (AIE) is estimated to be -2.0 Wm{sup -2} for PD-PI and -0.6 Wm{sup -2} for 2050-PD, at the high end of current estimates. Inclusion of ACI substantially impacts changes in global mean methane lifetime across both time periods, enhancing the past and future increases by 10% and 30%, respectively. In regions where pollution emissions increase, inclusion of ACI leads to 20% enhancements in in-cloud sulfate production and {approx}10% enhancements in sulfate wet deposition that is displaced away from the immediate source regions. The enhanced in-cloud sulfate formation leads to larger increases in surface sulfate across polluted regions ({approx}10-30%). Nitric acid wet deposition is dampened by 15-20% across the industrialized regions due to ACI allowing additional re-release of reactive nitrogen that contributes to 1-2 ppbv increases in surface ozone in outflow regions. Our model findings indicate that ACI must be considered in studies of methane trends and projections of future changes to particulate matter air quality.« less

Does Aerosol Geoengineering the Earth's Climate Pass a Cost-Benefit Test?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, K.; Urban, N.; Tuana, N.

2007-12-01

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are changing the Earth's climate with potentially dangerous consequences. Ratified international agreements call for a reduction of CO2 emissions to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Recent studies have, however, proposed an alternative strategy: to geoengineer Earth's climate by injecting aerosol precursors into the stratosphere. It is often claimed that aerosol geoengineering would provide net economic benefits because geoengineering requires far lower near-term investments compared to deep cuts in CO2 emissions. However, aerosol geoengineering projects can also cause nontrivial economic costs. This is because aerosol geoengineering hinges on successfully counterbalancing the forcing effects of CO2 emissions (which decay over centuries) with the forcing effects of aerosol emissions (which decay within years). A failure to maintain this delicate balance can lead to abrupt climatic changes, with potentially substantial economic damages. Deferring cuts in CO2 emissions in favor of aerosol geoengineering is hence a deeply uncertain gamble, as it requires so far unknown institutions to reliably control aerosol forcings over centuries. Here we use a simple economic model to evaluate potential costs and benefits of aerosol geoengineering for a wide range of the deeply uncertain parameters. We show that aerosol geoengineering projects may cause economic damages that can far exceed the benefits and may hence fail a cost-benefit test.

The global impact of the transport sectors on atmospheric aerosol in 2030 - Part 2: Aviation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Righi, Mattia; Hendricks, Johannes; Sausen, Robert

2016-04-01

We use the EMAC (ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry) global climate-chemistry model coupled to the aerosol module MADE (Modal Aerosol Dynamics model for Europe, adapted for global applications) to simulate the impact of aviation emissions on global atmospheric aerosol and climate in 2030. Emissions of short-lived gas and aerosol species follow the four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) designed in support of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We compare our findings with the results of a previous study with the same model configuration focusing on year 2000 emissions. We also characterize the aviation results in the context of the other transport sectors presented in a companion paper. In spite of a relevant increase in aviation traffic volume and resulting emissions of aerosol (black carbon) and aerosol precursor species (nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide), the aviation effect on particle mass concentration in 2030 remains quite negligible (on the order of a few ng m-3), about 1 order of magnitude less than the increase in concentration due to other emission sources. Due to the relatively small size of the aviation-induced aerosol, however, the increase in particle number concentration is significant in all scenarios (about 1000 cm-3), mostly affecting the northern mid-latitudes at typical flight altitudes (7-12 km). This largely contributes to the overall change in particle number concentration between 2000 and 2030, which also results in significant climate effects due to aerosol-cloud interactions. Aviation is the only transport sector for which a larger impact on the Earth's radiation budget is simulated in the future: the aviation-induced radiative forcing in 2030 is more than doubled with respect to the year 2000 value of -15 mW m-2 in all scenarios, with a maximum value of -63 mW m-2 simulated for RCP2.6.

Microphysical explanation of the RH-dependent water affinity of biogenic organic aerosol and its importance for climate

DOE PAGES

Rastak, N.; Pajunoja, A.; Acosta Navarro, J. C.; ...

2017-04-28

A large fraction of atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) originates from natural emissions that are oxidized in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Isoprene (IP) and monoterpenes (MT) are the most important precursors of SOA originating from forests. The climate impacts from OA are currently estimated through parameterizations of water uptake that drastically simplify the complexity of OA. We combine laboratory experiments, thermodynamic modeling, field observations, and climate modeling to (1) explain the molecular mechanisms behind RH-dependent SOA water-uptake with solubility and phase separation; (2) show that laboratory data on IP- and MT-SOA hygroscopicity are representative of ambient datamore » with corresponding OA source profiles; and (3) demonstrate the sensitivity of the modeled aerosol climate effect to assumed OA water affinity. We conclude that the commonly used single-parameter hygroscopicity framework can introduce significant error when quantifying the climate effects of organic aerosol. The results highlight the need for better constraints on the overall global OA mass loadings and its molecular composition, including currently underexplored anthropogenic and marine OA sources.« less

Microphysical explanation of the RH-dependent water affinity of biogenic organic aerosol and its importance for climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rastak, N.; Pajunoja, A.; Acosta Navarro, J. C.; Ma, J.; Song, M.; Partridge, D. G.; Kirkevâg, A.; Leong, Y.; Hu, W. W.; Taylor, N. F.; Lambe, A.; Cerully, K.; Bougiatioti, A.; Liu, P.; Krejci, R.; Petäjä, T.; Percival, C.; Davidovits, P.; Worsnop, D. R.; Ekman, A. M. L.; Nenes, A.; Martin, S.; Jimenez, J. L.; Collins, D. R.; Topping, D. O.; Bertram, A. K.; Zuend, A.; Virtanen, A.; Riipinen, I.

2017-05-01

A large fraction of atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) originates from natural emissions that are oxidized in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Isoprene (IP) and monoterpenes (MT) are the most important precursors of SOA originating from forests. The climate impacts from OA are currently estimated through parameterizations of water uptake that drastically simplify the complexity of OA. We combine laboratory experiments, thermodynamic modeling, field observations, and climate modeling to (1) explain the molecular mechanisms behind RH-dependent SOA water-uptake with solubility and phase separation; (2) show that laboratory data on IP- and MT-SOA hygroscopicity are representative of ambient data with corresponding OA source profiles; and (3) demonstrate the sensitivity of the modeled aerosol climate effect to assumed OA water affinity. We conclude that the commonly used single-parameter hygroscopicity framework can introduce significant error when quantifying the climate effects of organic aerosol. The results highlight the need for better constraints on the overall global OA mass loadings and its molecular composition, including currently underexplored anthropogenic and marine OA sources.

Microphysical explanation of the RH-dependent water affinity of biogenic organic aerosol and its importance for climate.

PubMed

Rastak, N; Pajunoja, A; Acosta Navarro, J C; Ma, J; Song, M; Partridge, D G; Kirkevåg, A; Leong, Y; Hu, W W; Taylor, N F; Lambe, A; Cerully, K; Bougiatioti, A; Liu, P; Krejci, R; Petäjä, T; Percival, C; Davidovits, P; Worsnop, D R; Ekman, A M L; Nenes, A; Martin, S; Jimenez, J L; Collins, D R; Topping, D O; Bertram, A K; Zuend, A; Virtanen, A; Riipinen, I

2017-05-28

A large fraction of atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) originates from natural emissions that are oxidized in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Isoprene (IP) and monoterpenes (MT) are the most important precursors of SOA originating from forests. The climate impacts from OA are currently estimated through parameterizations of water uptake that drastically simplify the complexity of OA. We combine laboratory experiments, thermodynamic modeling, field observations, and climate modeling to (1) explain the molecular mechanisms behind RH-dependent SOA water-uptake with solubility and phase separation; (2) show that laboratory data on IP- and MT-SOA hygroscopicity are representative of ambient data with corresponding OA source profiles; and (3) demonstrate the sensitivity of the modeled aerosol climate effect to assumed OA water affinity. We conclude that the commonly used single-parameter hygroscopicity framework can introduce significant error when quantifying the climate effects of organic aerosol. The results highlight the need for better constraints on the overall global OA mass loadings and its molecular composition, including currently underexplored anthropogenic and marine OA sources.

Microphysical explanation of the RH‐dependent water affinity of biogenic organic aerosol and its importance for climate

PubMed Central

Rastak, N.; Pajunoja, A.; Acosta Navarro, J. C.; Ma, J.; Song, M.; Partridge, D. G.; Kirkevåg, A.; Leong, Y.; Hu, W. W.; Taylor, N. F.; Lambe, A.; Cerully, K.; Bougiatioti, A.; Liu, P.; Krejci, R.; Petäjä, T.; Percival, C.; Davidovits, P.; Worsnop, D. R.; Ekman, A. M. L.; Nenes, A.; Martin, S.; Jimenez, J. L.; Collins, D. R.; Topping, D.O.; Bertram, A. K.; Zuend, A.; Virtanen, A.

2017-01-01

Abstract A large fraction of atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) originates from natural emissions that are oxidized in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Isoprene (IP) and monoterpenes (MT) are the most important precursors of SOA originating from forests. The climate impacts from OA are currently estimated through parameterizations of water uptake that drastically simplify the complexity of OA. We combine laboratory experiments, thermodynamic modeling, field observations, and climate modeling to (1) explain the molecular mechanisms behind RH‐dependent SOA water‐uptake with solubility and phase separation; (2) show that laboratory data on IP‐ and MT‐SOA hygroscopicity are representative of ambient data with corresponding OA source profiles; and (3) demonstrate the sensitivity of the modeled aerosol climate effect to assumed OA water affinity. We conclude that the commonly used single‐parameter hygroscopicity framework can introduce significant error when quantifying the climate effects of organic aerosol. The results highlight the need for better constraints on the overall global OA mass loadings and its molecular composition, including currently underexplored anthropogenic and marine OA sources. PMID:28781391

Microphysical explanation of the RH-dependent water affinity of biogenic organic aerosol and its importance for climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rastak, N.; Pajunoja, A.; Acosta Navarro, J. C.

A large fraction of atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) originates from natural emissions that are oxidized in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Isoprene (IP) and monoterpenes (MT) are the most important precursors of SOA originating from forests. The climate impacts from OA are currently estimated through parameterizations of water uptake that drastically simplify the complexity of OA. We combine laboratory experiments, thermodynamic modeling, field observations, and climate modeling to (1) explain the molecular mechanisms behind RH-dependent SOA water-uptake with solubility and phase separation; (2) show that laboratory data on IP- and MT-SOA hygroscopicity are representative of ambient datamore » with corresponding OA source profiles; and (3) demonstrate the sensitivity of the modeled aerosol climate effect to assumed OA water affinity. We conclude that the commonly used single-parameter hygroscopicity framework can introduce significant error when quantifying the climate effects of organic aerosol. The results highlight the need for better constraints on the overall global OA mass loadings and its molecular composition, including currently underexplored anthropogenic and marine OA sources.« less

The Impact of Aerosol Microphysical Representation in Models on the Direct Radiative Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ridley, D. A.; Heald, C. L.

2017-12-01

Aerosol impacts the radiative balance of the atmosphere both directly and indirectly. There is considerable uncertainty remaining in the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE), hampering understanding of the present magnitude of anthropogenic aerosol forcing and how future changes in aerosol loading will influence climate. Computationally expensive explicit aerosol microphysics are usually reserved for modelling of the aerosol indirect radiative effects that depend upon aerosol particle number. However, the direct radiative effects of aerosol are also strongly dependent upon the aerosol size distribution, especially particles between 0.2µm - 2µm diameter. In this work, we use a consistent model framework and consistent emissions to explore the impact of prescribed size distributions (bulk scheme) relative to explicit microphysics (sectional scheme) on the aerosol radiative properties. We consider the difference in aerosol burden, water uptake, and extinction efficiency resulting from the two representations, highlighting when and where the bulk and sectional schemes diverge significantly in their estimates of the DRE. Finally, we evaluate the modelled size distributions using in-situ measurements over a range of regimes to provide constraints on both the accumulation and coarse aerosol sizes.

Role of Climate Change in Global Predictions of Future Tropospheric Ozone and Aerosols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liao, Hong; Chen, Wei-Ting; Seinfeld, John H.

2006-01-01

A unified tropospheric chemistry-aerosol model within the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model II is applied to simulate an equilibrium CO2-forced climate in the year 2100 to examine the effects of climate change on global distributions of tropospheric ozone and sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, primary organic carbon, secondary organic carbon, sea salt, and mineral dust aerosols. The year 2100 CO2 concentration as well as the anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors and aerosols/aerosol precursors are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2. Year 2100 global O3 and aerosol burdens predicted with changes in both climate and emissions are generally 5-20% lower than those simulated with changes in emissions alone; as exceptions, the nitrate burden is 38% lower, and the secondary organic aerosol burden is 17% higher. Although the CO2-driven climate change alone is predicted to reduce the global O3 concentrations over or near populated and biomass burning areas because of slower transport, enhanced biogenic hydrocarbon emissions, decomposition of peroxyacetyl nitrate at higher temperatures, and the increase of O3 production by increased water vapor at high NOx levels. The warmer climate influences aerosol burdens by increasing aerosol wet deposition, altering climate-sensitive emissions, and shifting aerosol thermodynamic equilibrium. Climate change affects the estimates of the year 2100 direct radiative forcing as a result of the climate-induced changes in burdens and different climatological conditions; with full gas-aerosol coupling and accounting for ozone and direct radiative forcings by the O2, sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, and organic carbon are predicted to be +0.93, -0.72, -1.0, +1.26, and -0.56 W m(exp -2), respectively, using present-day climate and year 2100 emissions, while they are predicted to be +0.76, -0.72, 0.74, +0.97, and -0.58 W m(exp -2

On the Feasibility of Studying Shortwave Aerosol Radiative Forcing of Climate Using Dual-Wavelength Aerosol Backscatter Lidar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redemann, Jens; Russell, Philip B.; Winker, David M.; McCormick, M. Patrick; Hipskind, R. Stephen (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The current low confidence in the estimates of aerosol-induced perturbations of Earth's radiation balance is caused by the highly non-uniform compositional, spatial and temporal distributions of tropospheric aerosols on a global scale owing to their heterogeneous sources and short lifetimes. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that the inclusion of aerosol effects in climate model calculations can improve agreement with observed spatial and temporal temperature distributions. In light of the short lifetimes of aerosols, determination of their global distribution with space-borne sensors seems to be a necessary approach. Until recently, satellite measurements of tropospheric aerosols have been approximate and did not provide the full set of information required to determine their radiative effects. With the advent of active aerosol remote sensing from space (e.g., PICASSO-CENA), the applicability fo lidar-derived aerosol 180 deg -backscatter data to radiative flux calculations and hence studies of aerosol effects on climate needs to be investigated.

The Impact of Atmospheric Aerosols on the Fraction of absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veroustraete, Frank

2010-05-01

Aerosol pollution attracts a growing interest from atmospheric scientists with regard to their impact on health, the global climate and vegetation stress. A hypothesis, less investigated, is whether atmospheric aerosol interactions in the solar radiation field affect the amount of radiation absorbed by vegetation canopies and hence terrestrial vegetation productivity. Typically, aerosols affect vegetation canopy radiation absorption efficiency by altering the physical characteristics of solar radiation incoming on for example a forest canopy. It has been illustrated, that increasing mixing ratio's of atmospheric particulate matter lead to a higher fraction of diffuse sunlight as opposed to direct sunlight. It can be demonstrated, based on the application of atmospheric (MODTRAN) and leaf/canopy radiative transfer (LIBERTY/SPRINT) models, that radiation absorption efficiency in the PAR band of Picea like forests increases with increasing levels of diffuse radiation. It can be documented - on a theoretical basis - as well, that increasing aerosol loads in the atmosphere, induce and increased canopy PAR absorption efficiency. In this paper it is suggested, that atmospheric aerosols have to be taken into account when estimating vegetation gross primary productivity (GPP). The results suggest that Northern hemisphere vegetation CO2 uptake magnitude may increase with increasing atmospheric aerosol loads. Many climate impact scenario's related to vegetation productivity estimates, do not take this phenomenon into account. Boldly speaking, the results suggest a larger sink function for terrestrial vegetation than generally accepted. Keywords: Aerosols, vegetation, fAPAR, CO2 uptake, diffuse radiation.

Organic condensation: A vital link connecting aerosol formation to climate forcing (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riipinen, I.; Pierce, J. R.; Yli-Juuti, T.; Nieminen, T.; Häkkinen, S.; Ehn, M.; Junninen, H.; Lehtipalo, K.; Petdjd, T. T.; Slowik, J. G.; Chang, R. Y.; Shantz, N. C.; Abbatt, J.; Leaitch, W. R.; Kerminen, V.; Worsnop, D. R.; Pandis, S. N.; Donahue, N. M.; Kulmala, M. T.

2010-12-01

Aerosol-cloud interactions represent the largest uncertainty in calculations of Earth’s radiative forcing. Number concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles are in the core of this uncertainty, as they govern the numbers of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and influence the albedo and lifetime of clouds. Aerosols also impair air quality through their adverse effects on atmospheric visibility and human health. The ultrafine fraction (<100 nm) of atmospheric aerosol particles often dominates the total aerosol numbers, and nucleation of atmospheric vapours is one of the most important sources of these particles. To have climatic relevance, however, the freshly-nucleated particles need to grow in size, and consequently their climatic importance remains to be quantified (see Fig. 1). We combine observations from two continental sites (Egbert, Canada and Hyytiälä, Finland) to show that condensation of organic vapours is a crucial factor governing the lifetimes and climatic importance of the smallest atmospheric particles. We demonstrate that state-of-the-science organic gas-particle partitioning models fail to reproduce the observations; we propose a new modelling approach that is consistent with the measurements. Finally, we demonstrate the large sensitivity of climatic forcing of atmospheric aerosols to these interactions between organic vapours and the smallest atmospheric nanoparticles - highlighting the need for representing this process in global climate models. Figure 1. Organic emissions and the dynamic processes governing the climatic importance of ultrafine aerosol. Condensable vapours are produced upon oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and can 1) nucleate to form new small particles; 2) grow freshly formed particles to larger sizes and increase their probability to serve as CCN; 3) condense on the background aerosol (> 100 nm) and enhance the loss of ultrafine particles. Primary organic aerosol (POA) contributes to the large end of the

Role of Atmospheric Chemistry in the Climate Impacts of Stratospheric Volcanic Injections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Legrande, Allegra N.; Tsigaridis, Kostas; Bauer, Susanne E.

2016-01-01

The climate impact of a volcanic eruption is known to be dependent on the size, location and timing of the eruption. However, the chemistry and composition of the volcanic plume also control its impact on climate. It is not just sulfur dioxide gas, but also the coincident emissions of water, halogens and ash that influence the radiative and climate forcing of an eruption. Improvements in the capability of models to capture aerosol microphysics, and the inclusion of chemistry and aerosol microphysics modules in Earth system models, allow us to evaluate the interaction of composition and chemistry within volcanic plumes in a new way. These modeling efforts also illustrate the role of water vapor in controlling the chemical evolution, and hence climate impacts, of the plume. A growing realization of the importance of the chemical composition of volcanic plumes is leading to a more sophisticated and realistic representation of volcanic forcing in climate simulations, which in turn aids in reconciling simulations and proxy reconstructions of the climate impacts of past volcanic eruptions. More sophisticated simulations are expected to help, eventually, with predictions of the impact on the Earth system of any future large volcanic eruptions.

Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong; Li, Xiaowen

2012-01-01

Aerosols are a critical.factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosols have a major impact on the dynamics, microphysics, and electrification properties of continental mixed-phase convective clouds. In addition, high aerosol concentrations in urban environments could affect precipitation variability by providing a significant source of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Such pollution . effects on precipitation potentially have enormous climatic consequences both in terms of feedbacks involving the land surface via rainfall as well as the surface energy budget and changes in latent heat input to the atmosphere. Basically, aerosol concentrations can influence cloud droplet size distributions, the warm-rain process, the cold-rain process, cloud-top heights, the depth of the mixed-phase region, and the occurrence of lightning. Recently, many cloud resolution models (CRMs) have been used to examine the role of aerosols on mixed-phase convective clouds. These modeling studies have many differences in terms of model configuration (two- or three-dimensional), domain size, grid spacing (150-3000 m), microphysics (two-moment bulk, simple or sophisticated spectral-bin), turbulence (1st or 1.5 order turbulent kinetic energy (TKE)), radiation, lateral boundary conditions (i.e., closed, radiative open or cyclic), cases (isolated convection, tropical or midlatitude squall lines) and model integration time (e.g., 2.5 to 48 hours). Among these modeling studies, the most striking difference is that cumulative precipitation can either increase or decrease in response to higher concentrations of CCN. In this presentation, we review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on convective precipitation processes. Specifically, this paper addresses the following topics

Changes in future air quality, deposition, and aerosol-cloud interactions under future climate and emission scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glotfelty, Timothy; Zhang, Yang; Karamchandani, Prakash; Streets, David G.

2016-08-01

The prospect of global climate change will have wide scale impacts, such as ecological stress and human health hazards. One aspect of concern is future changes in air quality that will result from changes in both meteorological forcing and air pollutant emissions. In this study, the GU-WRF/Chem model is employed to simulate the impact of changing climate and emissions following the IPCC AR4 SRES A1B scenario. An average of 4 future years (2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050) is compared against an average of 2 current years (2001 and 2010). Under this scenario, by the Mid-21st century global air quality is projected to degrade with a global average increase of 2.5 ppb in the maximum 8-hr O3 level and of 0.3 μg m-3 in 24-hr average PM2.5. However, PM2.5 changes are more regional due to regional variations in primary aerosol emissions and emissions of gaseous precursor for secondary PM2.5. Increasing NOx emissions in this scenario combines with a wetter climate elevating levels of OH, HO2, H2O2, and the nitrate radical and increasing the atmosphere's near surface oxidation state. This differs from findings under the RCP scenarios that experience declines in OH from reduced NOx emissions, stratospheric recovery of O3, and increases in CH4 and VOCs. Increasing NOx and O3 levels enhances the nitrogen and O3 deposition, indicating potentially enhanced crop damage and ecosystem stress under this scenario. The enhanced global aerosol level results in enhancements in aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud optical thickness. This leads to dimming at the Earth's surface with a global average reduction in shortwave radiation of 1.2 W m-2. This enhanced dimming leads to a more moderate warming trend and different trends in radiation than those found in NCAR's CCSM simulation, which does not include the advanced chemistry and aerosol treatment of GU-WRF/Chem and cannot simulate the impacts of changing climate and emissions with the same level of detailed

Impact of Improvements in Volcanic Implementation on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate in the GISS-E2 Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsigaridis, Kostas; LeGrande, Allegra; Bauer, Susanne

2015-01-01

The representation of volcanic eruptions in climate models introduces some of the largest errors when evaluating historical simulations, partly due to the crude model parameterizations. We will show preliminary results from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)-E2 model comparing traditional highly parameterized volcanic implementation (specified Aerosol Optical Depth, Effective Radius) to deploying the full aerosol microphysics module MATRIX and directly emitting SO2 allowing us the prognosically determine the chemistry and climate impact. We show a reasonable match in aerosol optical depth, effective radius, and forcing between the full aerosol implementation and reconstructions/observations of the Mt. Pinatubo 1991 eruption, with a few areas as targets for future improvement. This allows us to investigate not only the climate impact of the injection of volcanic aerosols, but also influences on regional water vapor, O3, and OH distributions. With the skill of the MATRIX volcano implementation established, we explore (1) how the height of the injection column of SO2 influence atmospheric chemistry and climate response, (2) how the initial condition of the atmosphere influences the climate and chemistry impact of the eruption with a particular focus on how ENSO and QBO and (3) how the coupled chemistry could mitigate the climate signal for much larger eruptions (i.e. the 1258 eruption, reconstructed to be approximately 10x Pinatubo). During each sensitivity experiment we assess the impact on profiles of water vapor, O3, and OH, and assess how the eruption impacts the budget of each.

Diagnosis of Dust- and Pollution- Impacted PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 Aerosols Observed at Gosan Climate Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, X.; Lee, M.; LIM, S.; Gustafsson, O.; Lee, G.; Chang, L.

2017-12-01

In East Asia, dust is prevalent and used to be mixed with various pollutants during transportation, causing a large uncertainty in estimating the climate forcing of aerosol and difficulty in making environmental policy. In order to diagnose the influence of dust particles on aerosol, we conducted a long-term measurement of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 for mass, water-soluble ions, and carbonaceous compounds at Gosan Climate Observatory, South Korea from August 2007 to February 2012. The result of principle component analysis reveals that anthropogenic, typical soil dust, and saline dust impact explain 46 %, 16 %, and 9 % of the total variance for all samples, respectively. The mode analysis of mass distributions provides the criteria to distinguish these principle factors. The anthropogenic impact was most pronounced in PM1 and diagnosed by the PM1 mass higher than mean+σ. If PM10 mass was greater than mean+σ, it was highly likely to be affected by typical soil dust. This criterion is also applicable for PM2.5 mass, which was enhanced by both haze and dust particles, though. In the present study, saline dust was recognized by relatively high concentrations of Na and Cl ions in PM1.0. However, their existence was not manifested by increased mass in any of three PM types.

Evidence of Aerosol's Influence on Climate from Beijing Olympics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, S.; Fu, Q.; Huang, J.; Ge, J.; Su, J.

2009-12-01

Air pollution is a difficult problem during the process of industrialization in most developing countries. In China, the main air pollutants are inhaled aerosol particles. Because of the extremely high loading and rapid development, Beijing became a heavily polluted city, with a population of more than 16 million. The 2008 Olympic Summer Games provided a unique opportunity for the study of climate effects of aerosols due to many measurements taken to fight pollution caused by industrialization and economic growth.Surface temperature is the most intuitive meteorological factor and easy to get. Therefore, aerosol’s radiative effects on regional climate can be known by studying the relationship between aerosols and surface temperature in Beijing city in August 2008. However, many factors can affect the surface temperature and cloud is considered as a very important meteorological element in radiation balance. In order to remove the impact of clouds on surface temperature, here the ground temperature in clear sky days (when cloud cover is less than 2) are selected. Aerosol data from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua shows that aerosol concentration decreased significantly in the area of Olympic venues in August 2008. Meanwhile, the ground-based observation data shows the surface temperature during the day (14LT) and night (02LT) in August 2008 is higher and lower than the mean temperature in August from 2002 to 2008, respectively. It is discovered that the distribution of satellite-retrieved aerosol optical Depth (AOD) in the whole area of Beijing in August of 2003 and 2004 is similar to that in 2008. We chosen four meteorological stations to analyze surface temperature and found that the diurnal changes of surface temperature are consistent with that in August of 2003, 2004 and 2008. Meanwhile, the decrease of AOD in the area of Olympic venues in August 2008 leads to the increase of precipitation

Developing and diagnosing climate change indictors of regional aerosol optical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan, Ryan C.; Levy, Robert C.; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Pryor, Sara C.

2017-04-01

The US Global Change Research Program has developed climate indicators (CIs) to track changes in the physical, chemical, biological, and societal components of the climate system. Given the importance of atmospheric aerosol particles to clouds and radiative forcing, human mortality and morbidity, and biogeochemical cycles, we propose new aerosol particle CIs applicable to the US National Climate Assessment (NCA). Here we define these aerosol CIs and use them to quantify temporal trends in each NCA region. Furthermore, we use a synoptic classification (e.g., meteorological variables), and gas and particle emissions inventories to diagnose and attribute causes of observed changes. Our CIs are derived using output from the satellite-constrained Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis. MERRA-2 provides estimates of column-integrated aerosol optical properties at 0.625° by 0.5° resolution, including aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (AE), and single scattering albedo (SSA), which are related to aerosol loading, relative particle size, and chemical composition, respectively. For each NCA region, and for each aerosol variable, we derive statistics that describe mean and extreme values, as well as two metrics (spatial autocorrelation and coherence) that describe the spatial scales of aerosol variability. Consistent with previous analyses of aerosol precursor emissions and near-surface fine aerosol mass concentrations in the US, analyses of our aerosol CIs show that since 2000, both mean and extreme AOD have decreased over most NCA regions. There are significant (α = 0.05, using the non-parametric Kendall's tau) decreases in AOD for the Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), Midwest (MW), and lower Great Plains (GPl) regions, and notable but not significant decreases in the Southwest (SW). AOD has increased for the Northwest (NW; significant) and upper Great Plains (GPu; not significant). Over all regions

Aerosol Climate Time Series in ESA Aerosol_cci

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popp, Thomas; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Pinnock, Simon

2016-04-01

Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Aerosol_cci (2010 - 2017) conducts intensive work to improve algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol information from European sensors. Meanwhile, full mission time series of 2 GCOS-required aerosol parameters are completely validated and released: Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from dual view ATSR-2 / AATSR radiometers (3 algorithms, 1995 - 2012), and stratospheric extinction profiles from star occultation GOMOS spectrometer (2002 - 2012). Additionally, a 35-year multi-sensor time series of the qualitative Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) together with sensitivity information and an AAI model simulator is available. Complementary aerosol properties requested by GCOS are in a "round robin" phase, where various algorithms are inter-compared: fine mode AOD, mineral dust AOD (from the thermal IASI spectrometer, but also from ATSR instruments and the POLDER sensor), absorption information and aerosol layer height. As a quasi-reference for validation in few selected regions with sparse ground-based observations the multi-pixel GRASP algorithm for the POLDER instrument is used. Validation of first dataset versions (vs. AERONET, MAN) and inter-comparison to other satellite datasets (MODIS, MISR, SeaWIFS) proved the high quality of the available datasets comparable to other satellite retrievals and revealed needs for algorithm improvement (for example for higher AOD values) which were taken into account for a reprocessing. The datasets contain pixel level uncertainty estimates which were also validated and improved in the reprocessing. For the three ATSR algorithms the use of an ensemble method was tested. The paper will summarize and discuss the status of dataset reprocessing and validation. The focus will be on the ATSR, GOMOS and IASI datasets. Pixel level uncertainties validation will be summarized and discussed including unknown components and their potential usefulness and limitations. Opportunities for time series extension

What is the impact of natural variability and aerosol-cloud interaction on the effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosol?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiedler, S.; Stevens, B.; Mauritsen, T.

2017-12-01

State-of-the-art climate models have persistently shown a spread in estimates of the effective radiative forcing (ERF) associated with anthropogenic aerosol. Different reasons for the spread are known, but their relative importance is poorly understood. In this presentation we investigate the role of natural atmospheric variability, global patterns of aerosol radiative effects, and magnitudes of aerosol-cloud interaction in controlling the ERF of anthropogenic aerosol (Fiedler et al., 2017). We use the Earth system model MPI-ESM1.2 for conducting ensembles of atmosphere-only simulations and calculate the shortwave ERF of anthropogenic aerosol at the top of the atmosphere. The radiative effects are induced with the new parameterisation MACv2-SP (Stevens et al., 2017) that prescribes observationally constrained anthropogenic aerosol optical properties and an associated Twomey effect. Firstly, we compare the ERF of global patterns of anthropogenic aerosol from the mid-1970s and today. Our results suggest that such a substantial pattern difference has a negligible impact on the global mean ERF, when the natural variability of the atmosphere is considered. The clouds herein efficiently mask the clear-sky contributions to the forcing and reduce the detectability of significant anthropogenic aerosol radiative effects in all-sky conditions. Secondly, we strengthen the forcing magnitude through increasing the effect of aerosol-cloud interaction by prescribing an enhanced Twomey effect. In that case, the different spatial pattern of aerosol radiative effects from the mid-1970s and today causes a moderate change (15%) in the ERF of anthropogenic aerosol in our model. This finding lets us speculate that models with strong aerosol-cloud interactions would show a stronger ERF change with anthropogenic aerosol patterns. Testing whether the anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing is model-dependent under prescribed aerosol conditions is currently ongoing work using MACv2-SP in

Impact of Asian Aerosols on Precipitation Over California: An Observational and Model Based Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naeger, Aaron R.; Molthan, Andrew L.; Zavodsky, Bradley T.; Creamean, Jessie M.

2015-01-01

Dust and pollution emissions from Asia are often transported across the Pacific Ocean to over the western United States. Therefore, it is essential to fully understand the impact of these aerosols on clouds and precipitation forming over the eastern Pacific and western United States, especially during atmospheric river events that account for up to half of California's annual precipitation and can lead to widespread flooding. In order for numerical modeling simulations to accurately represent the present and future regional climate of the western United States, we must account for the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions associated with Asian dust and pollution aerosols. Therefore, we have constructed a detailed study utilizing multi-sensor satellite observations, NOAA-led field campaign measurements, and targeted numerical modeling studies where Asian aerosols interacted with cloud and precipitation processes over the western United States. In particular, we utilize aerosol optical depth retrievals from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-11), and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) to effectively detect and monitor the trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and pollution. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals are used in assimilating the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) in order to provide the model with an accurate representation of the aerosol spatial distribution across the Pacific. We conduct WRF-Chem model simulations of several cold-season atmospheric river events that interacted with Asian aerosols and brought significant precipitation over California during February-March 2011 when the NOAA CalWater field campaign was ongoing. The CalWater field campaign consisted of aircraft and surface measurements of aerosol and precipitation processes that help extensively validate our WRF

Impacts of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Regional Climate: Extreme Events, Stagnation, and the United States Warming Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mascioli, Nora R.

Extreme temperatures, heat waves, heavy rainfall events, drought, and extreme air pollution events have adverse effects on human health, infrastructure, agriculture and economies. The frequency, magnitude and duration of these events are expected to change in the future in response to increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing aerosols, but future climate projections are uncertain. A significant portion of this uncertainty arises from uncertainty in the effects of aerosol forcing: to what extent were the effects from greenhouse gases masked by aerosol forcing over the historical observational period, and how much will decreases in aerosol forcing influence regional and global climate over the remainder of the 21st century? The observed frequency and intensity of extreme heat and precipitation events have increased in the U.S. over the latter half of the 20th century. Using aerosol only (AER) and greenhouse gas only (GHG) simulations from 1860 to 2005 in the GFDL CM3 chemistry-climate model, I parse apart the competing influences of aerosols and greenhouse gases on these extreme events. I find that small changes in extremes in the "all forcing" simulations reflect cancellations between the effects of increasing anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases. In AER, extreme high temperatures and the number of days with temperatures above the 90th percentile decline over most of the U.S., while in GHG high temperature extremes increase over most of the U.S. The spatial response patterns in AER and GHG are significantly anti-correlated, suggesting a preferred regional mode of response that is largely independent of the type of forcing. Extreme precipitation over the eastern U.S. decreases in AER, particularly in winter, and increases over the eastern and central U.S. in GHG, particularly in spring. Over the 21 st century under the RCP8.5 emissions scenario, the patterns of extreme temperature and precipitation change associated with greenhouse gas forcing dominate. The

Aerosol Climate Time Series Evaluation In ESA Aerosol_cci

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popp, T.; de Leeuw, G.; Pinnock, S.

2015-12-01

Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Aerosol_cci (2010 - 2017) conducts intensive work to improve algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol information from European sensors. By the end of 2015 full mission time series of 2 GCOS-required aerosol parameters are completely validated and released: Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from dual view ATSR-2 / AATSR radiometers (3 algorithms, 1995 - 2012), and stratospheric extinction profiles from star occultation GOMOS spectrometer (2002 - 2012). Additionally, a 35-year multi-sensor time series of the qualitative Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) together with sensitivity information and an AAI model simulator is available. Complementary aerosol properties requested by GCOS are in a "round robin" phase, where various algorithms are inter-compared: fine mode AOD, mineral dust AOD (from the thermal IASI spectrometer), absorption information and aerosol layer height. As a quasi-reference for validation in few selected regions with sparse ground-based observations the multi-pixel GRASP algorithm for the POLDER instrument is used. Validation of first dataset versions (vs. AERONET, MAN) and inter-comparison to other satellite datasets (MODIS, MISR, SeaWIFS) proved the high quality of the available datasets comparable to other satellite retrievals and revealed needs for algorithm improvement (for example for higher AOD values) which were taken into account for a reprocessing. The datasets contain pixel level uncertainty estimates which are also validated. The paper will summarize and discuss the results of major reprocessing and validation conducted in 2015. The focus will be on the ATSR, GOMOS and IASI datasets. Pixel level uncertainties validation will be summarized and discussed including unknown components and their potential usefulness and limitations. Opportunities for time series extension with successor instruments of the Sentinel family will be described and the complementarity of the different satellite aerosol products

Climatic Effects of Medium-Sized Asteroid Impacts on Land

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardeen, C.; Garcia, R. R.; Toon, O. B.; Otto-Bliesner, B. L.; Wolf, E. T.

2015-12-01

Using the Community Earth System Model (CESM), a three-dimensional coupled climate model with interactive chemistry, we have simulated the climate response to a medium-sized (1 km) asteroid impact on the land. An impact of this size would cause local fires and may also generate submicron dust particles. Dust aerosols are injected into the upper atmosphere where they persist for ~3 years. Soot aerosols from fires are injected into the troposphere and absorb solar radiation heating the air which helps loft the soot into the stratosphere where it persists for ~10 years. Initially, these aerosols cause a heating of over 240 K in the stratosphere and up to a 70% reduction in downwelling solar radiation at the surface. Global average surface temperature cools by as much as -8.5 K, ocean temperature cools by -4.5 K, precipitation is reduced by 50%, and the ozone column is reduced by 55%. The surface UV Index exceeds 20 in the tropics for several years. These changes represent a significant hazard to life on a global scale. These results extend the work of Pierazzo et al. (2010), also using CESM, which found a significant impact on stratospheric ozone, but little change in surface temperature or precipitation, from a 1 km asteroid impact in the ocean.

Satellite Remote Sensing of Aerosol Forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Remer, Lorraine; Kaufman, Yoram; Ramaprasad, Jaya; Procopio, Aline; Levin, Zev

1999-01-01

Aerosol and cloud impacts on the earth's climate become a recent hot topic in climate studies. Having near future earth observing satellites, EOS-AM1 (Earth Observing System-AM1), ENVISAT (Environmental Satellites) and ADEOS-2 (Advanced Earth Observation Satellite-2), it will be a good timing to discuss how to obtain and use the microphysical parameters of aerosols and clouds for studying their climate impacts. Center for Climate System Research (CCSR) of the University of Tokyo invites you to 'Symposium on synergy between satellite-remote sensing and climate modeling in aerosol and cloud issues.' Here, we like to discuss the current and future issues in the remote sensing of aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters and their climate modeling studies. This workshop is also one of workshop series on aerosol remote sensing held in 1996, Washington D. C., and Meribel, France in 1999. It should be reminded that NASDA/ADEOS-1 & -2 (National Space Development Agency of Japan/Advanced Earth Observation Satellite-1 & -2) Workshop will be held in the following week (Dec. 6-10, 1999), so that this opportunity will be a perfect period for you to attend two meetings for satellite remote sensing in Japan. A weekend in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, will add a nice memory to your visiting Japan. *Issues in the symposium: 1) most recent topics in aerosol and cloud remot sensing, and 2) utility of satellite products on climate modeling of cloud-aerosol effects.

Interactive coupling of regional climate and sulfate aerosol models over eastern Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Yun; Giorgi, Filippo

1999-03-01

The NCAR regional climate model (RegCM) is interactively coupled to a simple radiatively active sulfate aerosol model over eastern Asia. Both direct and indirect aerosol effects are represented. The coupled model system is tested for two simulation periods, November 1994 and July 1995, with aerosol sources representative of present-day anthropogenic sulfur emissions. The model sensitivity to the intensity of the aerosol source is also studied. The main conclusions from our work are as follows: (1) The aerosol distribution and cycling processes show substantial regional spatial variability, and temporal variability varying on a range of scales, from the diurnal scale of boundary layer and cumulus cloud evolution to the 3-10 day scale of synoptic scale events and the interseasonal scale of general circulation features; (2) both direct and indirect aerosol forcings have regional effects on surface climate; (3) the regional climate response to the aerosol forcing is highly nonlinear, especially during the summer, due to the interactions with cloud and precipitation processes; (4) in our simulations the role of the aerosol indirect effects is dominant over that of direct effects; (5) aerosol-induced feedback processes can affect the aerosol burdens at the subregional scale. This work constitutes the first step in a long term research project aimed at coupling a hierarchy of chemistry/aerosol models to the RegCM over the eastern Asia region.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate modelsmore » typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. Our review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We also highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

DOE PAGES

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; ...

2017-06-15

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate modelsmore » typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. Our review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We also highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

Including the biogeochemical impacts of deforestation increases projected warming of climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, Catherine; Monks, Sarah; Spracklen, Dominick; Arnold, Stephen; Forster, Piers; Rap, Alexandru; Carslaw, Kenneth; Chipperfield, Martyn; Reddington, Carly; Wilson, Christopher

2016-04-01

Forests cover almost one third of the Earth's land area and their distribution is changing as a result of human activities. The presence, and removal, of forests affects the climate in many ways, with the net climate impact of deforestation dependent upon the relative strength of these effects (Betts, 2000; Bala et al., 2007; Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010). In addition to controlling the surface albedo and exchanging carbon dioxide (CO2) and moisture with the atmosphere, vegetation emits biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which lead to the formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and alter the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, affecting ozone (O3) and methane (CH4) concentrations. In this work, we combine a land-surface model with a chemical transport model, a global aerosol model, and a radiative transfer model to compare several radiative impacts of idealised deforestation scenarios in the present day. We find that the simulated reduction in biogenic SOA production, due to complete global deforestation, exerts a positive combined aerosol radiative forcing (RF) of between +308.0 and +362.7 mW m-2; comprised of a direct radiative effect of between +116.5 and +165.0 mW m-2, and a first aerosol indirect effect of between +191.5 and +197.7 mW m-2. We find that the reduction in O3 exerts a negative RF of -150.7 mW m-2 and the reduction in CH4 results in a negative RF of -76.2 mWm-2. When the impacts on biogenic SOA, O3 and CH4 are combined, global deforestation exerts an overall positive RF of between +81.1 and +135.9 mW m-2 through changes to short-lived climate forcers (SLCF). Taking these additional biogeochemical impacts into account increases the net positive RF of complete global deforestation, due to changes in CO2 and surface albedo, by 7-11%. Overall, our work suggests that deforestation has a stronger warming impact on climate than previously thought. References: Bala, G. et al., 2007. Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects

The impact of aerosol vertical distribution on aerosol optical depth retrieval using CALIPSO and MODIS data: Case study over dust and smoke regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yerong; de Graaf, Martin; Menenti, Massimo

2017-08-01

Global quantitative aerosol information has been derived from MODerate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) observations for decades since early 2000 and widely used for air quality and climate change research. However, the operational MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products Collection 6 (C6) can still be biased, because of uncertainty in assumed aerosol optical properties and aerosol vertical distribution. This study investigates the impact of aerosol vertical distribution on the AOD retrieval. We developed a new algorithm by considering dynamic vertical profiles, which is an adaptation of MODIS C6 Dark Target (C6_DT) algorithm over land. The new algorithm makes use of the aerosol vertical profile extracted from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements to generate an accurate top of the atmosphere (TOA) reflectance for the AOD retrieval, where the profile is assumed to be a single layer and represented as a Gaussian function with the mean height as single variable. To test the impact, a comparison was made between MODIS DT and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD, over dust and smoke regions. The results show that the aerosol vertical distribution has a strong impact on the AOD retrieval. The assumed aerosol layers close to the ground can negatively bias the retrievals in C6_DT. Regarding the evaluated smoke and dust layers, the new algorithm can improve the retrieval by reducing the negative biases by 3-5%.

Characterization of Wildfire-Induced Aerosol Emissions From the Maritime Continent Peatland and Central African Dry Savannah with MISR and CALIPSO Aerosol Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Huikyo; Jeong, Su-Jong; Kalashnikova, Olga; Tosca, Mika; Kim, Sang-Woo; Kug, Jong-Seong

2018-03-01

Aerosol plumes from wildfires affect the Earth's climate system through regulation of the radiative budget and clouds. However, optical properties of aerosols from individual wildfire smoke plumes and their resultant impact on regional climate are highly variable. Therefore, there is a critical need for observations that can constrain the partitioning between different types of aerosols. Here we present the apparent influence of regional ecosystem types on optical properties of wildfire-induced aerosols based on remote sensing observations from two satellite instruments and three ground stations. The independent observations commonly show that the ratio of the absorbing aerosols is significantly lower in smoke plumes from the Maritime Continent than those from Central Africa, so that their impacts on regional climate are different. The observed light-absorbing properties of wildfire-induced aerosols are explained by dominant ecosystem types such as wet peatlands for the Maritime Continent and dry savannah for Central Africa, respectively. These results suggest that the wildfire-aerosol-climate feedback processes largely depend on the terrestrial environments from which the fires originate. These feedbacks also interact with climate under greenhouse warming. Our analysis shows that aerosol optical properties retrieved based on satellite observations are critical in assessing wildfire-induced aerosols forcing in climate models. The optical properties of carbonaceous aerosol mixtures used by state-of-the-art chemistry climate models may overestimate emissions for absorbing aerosols from wildfires over the Maritime Continent.

The Impact of Aerosols on Cloud and Precipitation Processes: Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Li, Xiaowen; Khain, Alexander; Matsui, Toshihisa; Lang, Stephen; Simpson, Joanne

2008-01-01

Aerosols and especially their effect on clouds are one of the key components of the climate system and the hydrological cycle [Ramanathan et al., 2001]. Yet, the aerosol effect on clouds remains largely unknown and the processes involved not well understood. A recent report published by the National Academy of Science states "The greatest uncertainty about the aerosol climate forcing - indeed, the largest of all the uncertainties about global climate forcing - is probably the indirect effect of aerosols on clouds [NRC, 2001]." The aerosol effect on clouds is often categorized into the traditional "first indirect (i.e., Twomey)" effect on the cloud droplet sizes for a constant liquid water path [Twomey, 1977] and the "semi-direct" effect on cloud coverage [e.g., Ackerman et al ., 2001]." Enhanced aerosol concentrations can also suppress warm rain processes by producing a narrow droplet spectrum that inhibits collision and coalescence processes [e.g., Squires and Twomey, 1961; Warner and Twomey, 1967; Warner, 1968; Rosenfeld, 19991. The aerosol effect on precipitation processes, also known as the second type of aerosol indirect effect [Albrecht, 1989], is even more complex, especially for mixed-phase convective clouds. Table 1 summarizes the key observational studies identifying the microphysical properties, cloud characteristics, thermodynamics and dynamics associated with cloud systems from high-aerosol continental environments. For example, atmospheric aerosol concentrations can influence cloud droplet size distributions, warm-rain process, cold-rain process, cloud-top height, the depth of the mixed phase region, and occurrence of lightning. In addition, high aerosol concentrations in urban environments could affect precipitation variability by providing an enhanced source of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Hypotheses have been developed to explain the effect of urban regions on convection and precipitation [van den Heever and Cotton, 2007 and Shepherd, 2005

Global Aerosol Observations

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2013-04-19

... atmosphere, directly influencing global climate and human health. Ground-based networks that accurately measure column aerosol amount and ... being used to improve Air Quality Models and for regional health studies. To assess the human-health impact of chronic aerosol exposure, ...

Carbonaceous aerosol tracers in ice-cores record multi-decadal climate oscillations

PubMed Central

Seki, Osamu; Kawamura, Kimitaka; Bendle, James A. P.; Izawa, Yusuke; Suzuki, Ikuko; Shiraiwa, Takayuki; Fujii, Yoshiyuki

2015-01-01

Carbonaceous aerosols influence the climate via direct and indirect effects on radiative balance. However, the factors controlling the emissions, transport and role of carbonaceous aerosols in the climate system are highly uncertain. Here we investigate organic tracers in ice cores from Greenland and Kamchatka and find that, throughout the period covered by the records (1550 to 2000 CE), the concentrations and composition of biomass burning-, soil bacterial- and plant wax- tracers correspond to Arctic and regional temperatures as well as the warm season Arctic Oscillation (AO) over multi-decadal time-scales. Specifically, order of magnitude decreases (increases) in abundances of ice-core organic tracers, likely representing significant decreases (increases) in the atmospheric loading of carbonaceous aerosols, occur during colder (warmer) phases in the high latitudinal Northern Hemisphere. This raises questions about causality and possible carbonaceous aerosol feedback mechanisms. Our work opens new avenues for ice core research. Translating concentrations of organic tracers (μg/kg-ice or TOC) from ice-cores, into estimates of the atmospheric loading of carbonaceous aerosols (μg/m3) combined with new model constraints on the strength and sign of climate forcing by carbonaceous aerosols should be a priority for future research. PMID:26411576

Regional scale temperature and circulation impacts of short-lived climate pollutants reductions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oudar, T.; Kushner, P. J.; Fyfe, J. C.; von Salzen, K.; Shrestha, R.

2017-12-01

The role of anthropogenic aerosols on climate is still not clearly understood. Aerosol forcing is spatially heterogeneous and their emissions are controlled by regional economic and regulatory factors. For example, it is known that black carbon is responsible for a global net warming but its regional impacts are less understood. We evaluate the regional climate impacts of anthropogenic aerosol emission changes over the recent past and near future. Specifically, we report on numerical experiments using aerosol emissions from the Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants (ECLIPSE, Stohl et al., 2015) project. These scenarios are alternative mitigation pathways for black carbon and organic aerosol over the period from 1990 to 2050. With these scenarios, we carried out three sets of simulation using the second generation Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2): 1) A current legislation emission (CLE) scenario for black carbon and organic aerosols; 2) A mitigation (MIT) scenario for black carbon and organic aerosols, and; 3) A black carbon only mitigation scenario (MIT-BC). Five simulations were carried out for each scenario and the response analyzed in the context of a large fifty-member initial condition ensemble of simulations using historical anthropogenic aerosol forcings to 2005 as well as those forcing from the RCP8.5 scenario to 2020. Our main finding is a significant springtime cooling over the Northern midlatitudes that attributable to black carbon. Other cooling signals attributable to black carbon reductions are found in the boreal summer over Southern Europe as well as over the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes and tropical troposphere in boreal summer and fall. All of these cooling signals are to some degree offset by simultaneous reductions in organic aerosols. As a check on the robustness, we will also report on results of five-member draws from the large ensemble over periods of comparably strong radiative forcing changes, to

The economics and ethics of aerosol geoengineering strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goes, Marlos; Keller, Klaus; Tuana, Nancy

2010-05-01

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are changing the Earth's climate and impose substantial risks for current and future generations. What are scientifically sound, economically viable, and ethically defendable strategies to manage these climate risks? Ratified international agreements call for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Recent proposals, however, call for a different approach: geoengineering climate by injecting aerosol precursors into the stratosphere. Published economic studies typically neglect the risks of aerosol geoengineering due to (i) a potential failure to sustain the aerosol forcing and (ii) due to potential negative impacts associated with aerosol forcings. Here we use a simple integrated assessment model of climate change to analyze potential economic impacts of aerosol geoengineering strategies over a wide range of uncertain parameters such as climate sensitivity, the economic damages due to climate change, and the economic damages due to aerosol geoengineering forcings. The simplicity of the model provides the advantages of parsimony and transparency, but it also imposes considerable caveats. For example, the analysis is based on a globally aggregated model and is hence silent on intragenerational distribution of costs and benefits. In addition, the analysis neglects the effects of future learning and is based on a simple representation of climate change impacts. We use this integrated assessment model to show three main points. First, substituting aerosol geoengineering for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can fail the test of economic efficiency. One key to this finding is that a failure to sustain the aerosol forcing can lead to sizeable and abrupt climatic changes. The monetary damages due to such a discontinuous aerosol geoengineering can dominate the cost-benefit analysis because the monetary damages of climate change are expected to increase with

Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability.

PubMed

Booth, Ben B B; Dunstone, Nick J; Halloran, Paul R; Andrews, Timothy; Bellouin, Nicolas

2012-04-04

Systematic climate shifts have been linked to multidecadal variability in observed sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean. These links are extensive, influencing a range of climate processes such as hurricane activity and African Sahel and Amazonian droughts. The variability is distinct from historical global-mean temperature changes and is commonly attributed to natural ocean oscillations. A number of studies have provided evidence that aerosols can influence long-term changes in sea surface temperatures, but climate models have so far failed to reproduce these interactions and the role of aerosols in decadal variability remains unclear. Here we use a state-of-the-art Earth system climate model to show that aerosol emissions and periods of volcanic activity explain 76 per cent of the simulated multidecadal variance in detrended 1860-2005 North Atlantic sea surface temperatures. After 1950, simulated variability is within observational estimates; our estimates for 1910-1940 capture twice the warming of previous generation models but do not explain the entire observed trend. Other processes, such as ocean circulation, may also have contributed to variability in the early twentieth century. Mechanistically, we find that inclusion of aerosol-cloud microphysical effects, which were included in few previous multimodel ensembles, dominates the magnitude (80 per cent) and the spatial pattern of the total surface aerosol forcing in the North Atlantic. Our findings suggest that anthropogenic aerosol emissions influenced a range of societally important historical climate events such as peaks in hurricane activity and Sahel drought. Decadal-scale model predictions of regional Atlantic climate will probably be improved by incorporating aerosol-cloud microphysical interactions and estimates of future concentrations of aerosols, emissions of which are directly addressable by policy actions.

Multi-Decadal Variation of Aerosols: Sources, Transport, and Climate Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Bian, Huisheng; Streets, David

2008-01-01

We present a global model study of multi-decadal changes of atmospheric aerosols and their climate effects using a global chemistry transport model along with the near-term to longterm data records. We focus on a 27-year time period of satellite era from 1980 to 2006, during which a suite of aerosol data from satellite observations, ground-based measurements, and intensive field experiments have become available. We will use the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model, which involves a time-varying, comprehensive global emission dataset that we put together in our previous investigations and will be improved/extended in this project. This global emission dataset includes emissions of aerosols and their precursors from fuel combustion, biomass burning, volcanic eruptions, and other sources from 1980 to the present. Using the model and satellite data, we will analyze (1) the long-term global and regional aerosol trends and their relationship to the changes of aerosol and precursor emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources, (2) the intercontinental source-receptor relationships controlled by emission, transport pathway, and climate variability.

Global observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenfeld, Daniel; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Asmi, Ari; Chin, Mian; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Donovan, David P.; Kahn, Ralph; Kinne, Stefan; Kivekäs, Niku; Kulmala, Markku; Lau, William; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Suni, Tanja; Wagner, Thomas; Wild, Martin; Quaas, Johannes

2014-12-01

Cloud drop condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) particles determine to a large extent cloud microstructure and, consequently, cloud albedo and the dynamic response of clouds to aerosol-induced changes to precipitation. This can modify the reflected solar radiation and the thermal radiation emitted to space. Measurements of tropospheric CCN and IN over large areas have not been possible and can be only roughly approximated from satellite-sensor-based estimates of optical properties of aerosols. Our lack of ability to measure both CCN and cloud updrafts precludes disentangling the effects of meteorology from those of aerosols and represents the largest component in our uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing. Ways to improve the retrieval accuracy include multiangle and multipolarimetric passive measurements of the optical signal and multispectral lidar polarimetric measurements. Indirect methods include proxies of trace gases, as retrieved by hyperspectral sensors. Perhaps the most promising emerging direction is retrieving the CCN properties by simultaneously retrieving convective cloud drop number concentrations and updraft speeds, which amounts to using clouds as natural CCN chambers. These satellite observations have to be constrained by in situ observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate (ACPC) interactions, which in turn constrain a hierarchy of model simulations of ACPC. Since the essence of a general circulation model is an accurate quantification of the energy and mass fluxes in all forms between the surface, atmosphere and outer space, a route to progress is proposed here in the form of a series of box flux closure experiments in the various climate regimes. A roadmap is provided for quantifying the ACPC interactions and thereby reducing the uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing.

Organic condensation - a vital link connecting aerosol formation to climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riipinen, I.; Pierce, J. R.; Yli-Juuti, T.; Nieminen, T.; Häkkinen, S.; Ehn, M.; Junninen, H.; Lehtipalo, K.; Petäjä, T.; Slowik, J.; Chang, R.; Shantz, N. C.; Abbatt, J.; Leaitch, W. R.; Kerminen, V.-M.; Worsnop, D. R.; Pandis, S. N.; Donahue, N. M.; Kulmala, M.

2011-01-01

Atmospheric aerosol particles influence global climate as well as impair air quality through their effects on atmospheric visibility and human health. Ultrafine (<100 nm) particles often dominate aerosol numbers, and nucleation of atmospheric vapors is an important source of these particles. To have climatic relevance, however, the freshly-nucleated particles need to grow in size. We combine observations from two continental sites (Egbert, Canada and Hyytiälä, Finland) to show that condensation of organic vapors is a crucial factor governing the lifetimes and climatic importance of the smallest atmospheric particles. We demonstrate that state-of-the-science organic gas-particle partitioning models fail to reproduce the observations, and propose a modeling approach that is consistent with the measurements. We demonstrate the large sensitivity of climatic forcing of atmospheric aerosols to these interactions between organic vapors and the smallest atmospheric nanoparticles - highlighting the need for representing this process in global climate models.

Uncertainty associated with convective wet removal of entrained aerosols in a global climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croft, B.; Pierce, J. R.; Martin, R. V.; Hoose, C.; Lohmann, U.

2012-11-01

The uncertainties associated with the wet removal of aerosols entrained above convective cloud bases are investigated in a global aerosol-climate model (ECHAM5-HAM) under a set of limiting assumptions for the wet removal of the entrained aerosols. The limiting assumptions for the wet removal of entrained aerosols are negligible scavenging and vigorous scavenging (either through activation, with size-dependent impaction scavenging, or with the prescribed fractions of the standard model). To facilitate this process-based study, an explicit representation of cloud-droplet-borne and ice-crystal-borne aerosol mass and number, for the purpose of wet removal, is introduced into the ECHAM5-HAM model. This replaces and is compared with the prescribed cloud-droplet-borne and ice-crystal-borne aerosol fraction scavenging scheme of the standard model. A 20% to 35% uncertainty in simulated global, annual mean aerosol mass burdens and optical depth (AOD) is attributed to different assumptions for the wet removal of aerosols entrained above convective cloud bases. Assumptions about the removal of aerosols entrained above convective cloud bases control modeled upper tropospheric aerosol concentrations by as much as one order of magnitude. Simulated aerosols entrained above convective cloud bases contribute 20% to 50% of modeled global, annual mean aerosol mass convective wet deposition (about 5% to 10% of the total dry and wet deposition), depending on the aerosol species, when including wet scavenging of those entrained aerosols (either by activation, size-dependent impaction, or with the prescribed fraction scheme). Among the simulations, the prescribed fraction and size-dependent impaction schemes yield the largest global, annual mean aerosol mass convective wet deposition (by about two-fold). However, the prescribed fraction scheme has more vigorous convective mixed-phase wet removal (by two to five-fold relative to the size-dependent impaction scheme) since nearly all

The global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM, version 2: sensitivity to improvements in process representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; O'Donnell, D.; Kazil, J.; Stier, P.; Kinne, S.; Lohmann, U.; Ferrachat, S.; Croft, B.; Quaas, J.; Wan, H.; Rast, S.; Feichter, J.

2012-03-01

This paper introduces and evaluates the second version of the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM. Major changes have been brought into the model, including new parameterizations for aerosol nucleation and water uptake, an explicit treatment of secondary organic aerosols, modified emission calculations for sea salt and mineral dust, the coupling of aerosol microphysics to a two-moment stratiform cloud microphysics scheme, and alternative wet scavenging parameterizations. These revisions extend the model's capability to represent details of the aerosol lifecycle and its interaction with climate. Sensitivity experiments are carried out to analyse the effects of these improvements in the process representation on the simulated aerosol properties and global distribution. The new parameterizations that have largest impact on the global mean aerosol optical depth and radiative effects turn out to be the water uptake scheme and cloud microphysics. The former leads to a significant decrease of aerosol water contents in the lower troposphere, and consequently smaller optical depth; the latter results in higher aerosol loading and longer lifetime due to weaker in-cloud scavenging. The combined effects of the new/updated parameterizations are demonstrated by comparing the new model results with those from the earlier version, and against observations. Model simulations are evaluated in terms of aerosol number concentrations against measurements collected from twenty field campaigns as well as from fixed measurement sites, and in terms of optical properties against the AERONET measurements. Results indicate a general improvement with respect to the earlier version. The aerosol size distribution and spatial-temporal variance simulated by HAM2 are in better agreement with the observations. Biases in the earlier model version in aerosol optical depth and in the Ångström parameter have been reduced. The paper also points out the remaining model deficiencies that need to be

422nd Brookhaven Lecture. Aerosols, Clouds and Climate: From Micro to Micro

ScienceCinema

Yangang Liu

2018-01-05

As scientists who study aerosols, clouds, and precipitation know, particles in the atmosphere interact with one another and affect the Earth's climate through a myriad of complex processes. Learn more about this topic from Yangang Liu as he presents "Aerosols, Clouds, and Climate: From Micro to Macro."

Workshop on the Impacts of Aviation on Climate Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wuebbles, Don; Gupta, Mohan; Ko, Malcolm

2006-01-01

Projections indicate that demand for aviation transportation will increase by more than two fold over the next few decades. Timely action is needed to understand and quantify the potential climate impacts of aviation emissions particularly given the sustained lapse over the last several years in U.S. research activities in this area. In response to the stated needs, a group of international experts participated in the Workshop on the Impacts of Aviation on Climate Change during June 7-9, 2006 in Boston, MA. The workshop focus was on the impacts of subsonic aircraft emissions in the UT/LS region and on the potential response of the climate system. The goals of the workshop were to assess and document the present state of scientific knowledge, to identify the key underlying uncertainties and gaps, to identify ongoing and further research needed, to explore the development of climate impact metrics, and to help focus the scientific community on the aviation-climate change research needs. The workshop concluded that the major ways that aviation can affect climate, in agreement with the 1999 assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are the direct climate effects from CO2 and water vapor emissions, the indirect forcing on climate resulting from changes in the distributions and concentrations of ozone and methane as a primary consequence of aircraft nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, the direct effects (and indirect effects on clouds) from emitted aerosols and aerosol precursors, and the climate effects associated with contrails and cirrus cloud formation. The workshop was organized in three subgroups: (1) Effects of aircraft emissions on the UT/LS chemical composition, (2) Effects of water and particle emissions on contrails and on cirrus clouds, and (3) Impacts on climate from aircraft emissions and identification of suitable metrics to measure these impacts. The workshop participants acknowledged the need for focused research specifically to

The Impact of Desert Dust Aerosol Radiative Forcing on Global and West African Precipitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordan, A.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Gnanadesikan, A.; Dezfuli, A. K.

2015-12-01

Desert dust aerosols exert a radiative forcing on the atmosphere, influencing atmospheric temperature structure and modifying radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and surface. As dust aerosols perturb radiative fluxes, the atmosphere responds by altering both energy and moisture dynamics, with potentially significant impacts on regional and global precipitation. Global Climate Model (GCM) experiments designed to characterize these processes have yielded a wide range of results, owing to both the complex nature of the system and diverse differences across models. Most model results show a general decrease in global precipitation, but regional results vary. Here, we compare simulations from GFDL's CM2Mc GCM with multiple other model experiments from the literature in order to investigate mechanisms of radiative impact and reasons for GCM differences on a global and regional scale. We focus on West Africa, a region of high interannual rainfall variability that is a source of dust and that neighbors major Sahara Desert dust sources. As such, changes in West African climate due to radiative forcing of desert dust aerosol have serious implications for desertification feedbacks. Our CM2Mc results show net cooling of the planet at TOA and surface, net warming of the atmosphere, and significant increases in precipitation over West Africa during the summer rainy season. These results differ from some previous GCM studies, prompting comparative analysis of desert dust parameters across models. This presentation will offer quantitative analysis of differences in dust aerosol parameters, aerosol optical properties, and overall particle burden across GCMs, and will characterize the contribution of model differences to the uncertainty of forcing and climate response affecting West Africa.

Understanding How Biomass Burning Impacts Climate Change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aiken, Allison

2016-09-27

Biomass burning in Africa is creating a plume that spreads across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Brazil. Allison Aiken, a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, collects data about the black carbon aerosols within this plume and their impact on the environment to help improve global climate modeling. A leader in energy science, Los Alamos develops climate models in support of the Laboratory’s mission to strengthen the nation’s energy security. Allison’s work is part of FIDO, a field operations team funded by the Energy Department’s Office of Science’s ARM Climate Research Facility.

Impacts of Aerosol Direct Effects on the South Asian Climate: Assessment of Radiative Feedback Processes Using Model Simulations and Satellite/Surface Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Sheng-Hsiang; Gautam, Ritesh; Lau, William K. M.; Tsay, Si-Chee; Sun, Wen-Yih; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Chern, Jiun-Dar; Hsu, Christina; Lin, Neng-Huei

2011-01-01

Current assessment of aerosol radiative effect is hindered by our incomplete knowledge of aerosol optical properties, especially absorption, and our current inability to quantify physical and microphysical processes. In this research, we investigate direct aerosol radiative effect over heavy aerosol loading areas (e.g., Indo-Gangetic Plains, South/East Asia) and its feedbacks on the South Asian climate during the pre-monsoon season (March-June) using the Purdue Regional Climate Model (PRCM) with prescribed aerosol data derived by the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5). Our modeling domain covers South and East Asia (60-140E and 0-50N) with spatial resolutions of 45 km in horizontal and 28 layers in vertical. The model is integrated from 15 February to 30 June 2008 continuously without nudging (i.e., only forced by initial/boundary conditions). Two numerical experiments are conducted with and without the aerosol-radiation effects. Both simulations are successful in reproducing the synoptic patterns on seasonal-to-interannual time scales and capturing a pre-monsoon feature of the northward rainfall propagation over Indian region in early June which shown in Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observation. Preliminary result suggests aerosol-radiation interactions mainly alter surface-atmosphere energetics and further result in an adjustment of the vertical temperature distribution in lower atmosphere (below 700 hPa). The modifications of temperature and associated rainfall and circulation feedbacks on the regional climate will be discussed in the presentation.

Contributions to the Understanding of Aerosol Microphysics Towards Improving the Assessment of Climate Radiative Forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Kyle William

The study of climate and the associated impacts imposed by human activity has garnered the attention of scientists and policy makers since the 1950s. Research into the various atmospheric constituents that interact with solar radiation thus modulating Earth's radiative budget has been largely focused on the contributions from greenhouse gases and later focused on the role of atmospheric aerosol. The role of atmospheric aerosol, i.e. a solid or aqueous phase particulate, is complex and presents an opportunity for bettering the assessments of climate radiative forcing (i.e. the fraction of climate change due to anthropogenic, rather than natural, activities) in several ways. First, motivated to better understand the radiative effects of the Earth's background aerosol state to improve the assessment of anthropogenic effects, an experimental study on the water uptake ability of xanthan gum as a proxy for marine hydrogel, a component of natural primary emitted seaspray aerosol, is presented. Marine hydrogel comprises an organic component of the ocean surface microlayer that is released to the atmosphere via the bursting of bubbles generated by entrainment of air through crashing waves. This study investigates the water uptake ability (i.e. hygroscopicity) of these particles when exposed to a range of relative humidity (RH). The hydration characteristics of aerosolized pure xanthan gum as well as xanthan gum/salt mixtures were studied using a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) and cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNc). The hygroscopicity of the various solutions were compared to theoretical thermodynamic calculations accounting for the component volume fractions as a function of relative humidity. The data show that pure xanthan gum aerosol hygroscopicity behaves as other organic polysaccharides and, when combined with salts, is reasonably approximated by the volume fraction mixing rules above 90% RH. Deviations occur below 90% RH as well as for

The Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Can Be Tailored Using Multiple Injection Locations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacMartin, Douglas G.; Kravitz, Ben; Tilmes, Simone; Richter, Jadwiga H.; Mills, Michael J.; Lamarque, Jean-Francois; Tribbia, Joseph J.; Vitt, Francis

2017-12-01

By injecting different amounts of SO2 at multiple different latitudes, the spatial pattern of aerosol optical depth (AOD) can be partially controlled. This leads to the ability to influence the climate response to geoengineering with stratospheric aerosols, providing the potential for design. We use simulations from the fully coupled whole-atmosphere chemistry climate model CESM1(WACCM) to demonstrate that by appropriately combining injection at just four different locations, 30°S, 15°S, 15°N, and 30°N, then three spatial degrees of freedom of AOD can be achieved: an approximately spatially uniform AOD distribution, the relative difference in AOD between Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and the relative AOD in high versus low latitudes. For forcing levels that yield 1-2°C cooling, the AOD and surface temperature response are sufficiently linear in this model so that the response to different combinations of injection at different latitudes can be estimated from single-latitude injection simulations; nonlinearities associated with both aerosol growth and changes to stratospheric circulation will be increasingly important at higher forcing levels. Optimized injection at multiple locations is predicted to improve compensation of CO2-forced climate change relative to a case using only equatorial aerosol injection (which overcools the tropics relative to high latitudes). The additional degrees of freedom can be used, for example, to balance the interhemispheric temperature gradient and the equator to pole temperature gradient in addition to the global mean temperature. Further research is needed to better quantify the impacts of these strategies on changes to long-term temperature, precipitation, and other climate parameters.

Aerosol Indirect Effects on Cirrus Clouds in Global Aerosol-Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X.; Zhang, K.; Wang, Y.; Neubauer, D.; Lohmann, U.; Ferrachat, S.; Zhou, C.; Penner, J.; Barahona, D.; Shi, X.

2015-12-01

Cirrus clouds play an important role in regulating the Earth's radiative budget and water vapor distribution in the upper troposphere. Aerosols can act as solution droplets or ice nuclei that promote ice nucleation in cirrus clouds. Anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuel and biomass burning activities have substantially perturbed and enhanced concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Global aerosol-climate models (GCMs) have now been used to quantify the radiative forcing and effects of aerosols on cirrus clouds (IPCC AR5). However, the estimate uncertainty is very large due to the different representation of ice cloud formation and evolution processes in GCMs. In addition, large discrepancies have been found between model simulations in terms of the spatial distribution of ice-nucleating aerosols, relative humidity, and temperature fluctuations, which contribute to different estimates of the aerosol indirect effect through cirrus clouds. In this presentation, four GCMs with the start-of-the art representations of cloud microphysics and aerosol-cloud interactions are used to estimate the aerosol indirect effects on cirrus clouds and to identify the causes of the discrepancies. The estimated global and annual mean anthropogenic aerosol indirect effect through cirrus clouds ranges from 0.1 W m-2 to 0.3 W m-2 in terms of the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) net radiation flux, and 0.5-0.6 W m-2 for the TOA longwave flux. Despite the good agreement on global mean, large discrepancies are found at the regional scale. The physics behind the aerosol indirect effect is dramatically different. Our analysis suggests that burden of ice-nucleating aerosols in the upper troposphere, ice nucleation frequency, and relative role of ice formation processes (i.e., homogeneous versus heterogeneous nucleation) play key roles in determining the characteristics of the simulated aerosol indirect effects. In addition to the indirect effect estimate, we also use field campaign

Investigating the Climatic Impacts of Globally Shifted Anthropogenic Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Jiang, J. H.; Su, H.

2014-12-01

With a quasi-exponential growth in industrialization since the mid-1990s, Asia has undergone a dramatic increase in anthropogenic emissions of aerosol and precursor gases to the atmosphere. Meanwhile, such emissions have been stabilized or reduced over North America and Europe. This geographical shift of global emission sources could potentially perturb the regional and global climate due to impact of aerosols on cloud properties, precipitation, and large-scale circulation. We use an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) with different aerosol scenarios to investigate the radiative and microphysical effects of anthropogenic aerosols on the large-scale circulation and regional climate over the globe. We conduct experiments to simulate the continental shift of aerosol distribution by contrasting two simulations using 1970 and 2010 anthropogenic emission sources. We found the elevation of aerosol concentrations in East and South Asia results in regional surface temperature cooling of -0.10° to -0.17°C, respectively, due to the enhanced solar extinction by aerosols and cloud reflectivity. The reduction of the local aerosol loadings in Europe causes a significant warming of +0.4°C. However, despite recent decreasing in aerosol emission, North America shows a cooling of -0.13°C, likely caused by increasing of cloudiness under the influence of modulated general circulation. These aerosol induced temperature changes are consistent with the observed temperature trends from 1980 to 2013 in the reanalysis data. Our study also predicts weaker East/South Asia summer monsoons due to strong regional aerosol forcing. Moreover, the ascending motion in the northern tropics is found to be weakened by asymmetrical aerosol forcing, resulting in the cross-equatorial shift of Hadley Circulation.

Atmospheric Aerosols in a Changing World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heald, C. L.

2015-12-01

Aerosols in the atmosphere impact human and environmental health, visibility, and climate. Exposure to air pollution is the leading environmental cause of premature mortality world-wide. The role of aerosols on the Earth's climate represents the single largest source of uncertainty in our understanding of global radiative forcing. Tremendous strides have been made to clean up the air in recent decades, and yet poor air quality continues to plague many regions of the world, and our understanding of how global change will feedback on to aerosol sources, formation, and impacts is limited. In this talk, I will use recent results from my research group to highlight some of the key uncertainties and research topics in global aerosol lifecycle.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosols: implications for global climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivastava, Manish

2017-04-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the 'climate sensitivity'). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, often represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This presentation is based on a US Department of Energy Atmospheric Systems Research sponsored workshop, which highlighted key SOA processes overlooked in climate models that could greatly affect climate forcing estimates. We will highlight the importance of processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. We also highlight some of the recently discovered important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions such as effects of sulfur and NOx emissions on SOA. We will present examples of integrated model-measurement studies that relate the observed evolution of organic aerosol mass and number with knowledge of particle properties such as volatility and viscosity. We will also highlight the importance of continuing efforts to rank the most influential SOA processes that affect climate forcing, but are often missing

MAC-v1: A new global aerosol climatology for climate studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinne, Stefan; O'Donnel, Declan; Stier, Philip; Kloster, Silvia; Zhang, Kai; Schmidt, Hauke; Rast, Sebastian; Giorgetta, Marco; Eck, Tom F.; Stevens, Bjorn

2013-12-01

The Max-Planck-Institute Aerosol Climatology version 1 (MAC-v1) is introduced. It describes the optical properties of tropospheric aerosols on monthly timescales and with global coverage at a spatial resolution of 1° in latitude and longitude. By providing aerosol radiative properties for any wavelength of the solar (or shortwave) and of the terrestrial (or longwave) radiation spectrum, as needed in radiative transfer applications, this MAC-v1 data set lends itself to simplified and computationally efficient representations of tropospheric aerosol in climate studies. Estimates of aerosol radiative properties are provided for both total and anthropogenic aerosol in annual time steps from preindustrial times (i.e., starting with year 1860) well into the future (until the year 2100). Central to the aerosol climatology is the merging of monthly statistics of aerosol optical properties for current (year 2000) conditions. Hereby locally sparse but trusted high-quality data by ground-based sun-photometer networks are merged onto complete background maps defined by central data from global modeling with complex aerosol modules. This merging yields 0.13 for the global annual midvisible aerosol optical depth (AOD), with 0.07 attributed to aerosol sizes larger than 1 µm in diameter and 0.06 of attributed to aerosol sizes smaller than 1 µm in diameter. Hereby larger particles are less absorbing with a single scattering albedo (SSA) of 0.98 compared to 0.93 for smaller sizes. Simulation results of a global model are applied to prescribe the vertical distribution and to estimate anthropogenic contributions to the smaller size AOD as a function of time, with a 0.037 value for current conditions. In a demonstration application, the associated aerosol direct radiative effects are determined. For current conditions, total aerosol is estimated to reduce the combined shortwave and longwave net-flux balance at the top of the atmosphere by about -1.6 W/m2 from which -0.5 W/m2 (with

Modeling the Relationships Between Aerosol Properties and the Direct and Indirect Effects of Aerosols on Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toon, Owen B.

1994-01-01

Aerosols may affect climate directly by scattering and absorbing visible and infrared energy, They may also affect climate indirectly by modifying the properties of clouds through microphysical processes, and by altering abundances of radiatively important gases through heterogeneous chemistry. Researchers understand which aerosol properties control the direct effect of aerosols on the radiation budget. Unfortunately, despite an abundance of data on certain types of aerosols, much work remains to be done to determine the values of these properties. For instance we have little idea about the global distribution, seasonal variation, or interannual variability of the aerosol optical depth. Also we do not know the visible light absorption properties of tropical aerosols which may contain much debris from slash and burn agriculture. A positive correlation between aerosol concentrations and albedos of marine stratus clouds is observed, and the causative microphysics is understood. However, models suggest that it is difficult to produce new particles in the marine boundary layer. Some modelers have suggested that the particles in the marine boundary layer may originate in the free troposphere and be transported into the boundary layer. Others argue that the aerosols are created in the marine boundary layer. There are no data linking aerosol concentration and cirrus cloud albedo, and models suggest cirrus properties may not be very sensitive to aerosol abundance. There is clear evidence of a radiatively significant change in the global lower stratospheric ozone abundance during the past few decades. These changes are caused by heterogeneous chemical reactions occurring on the surfaces of particles. The rates of these reactions depend upon the chemical composition of the particles. Although rapid advances in understanding heterogeneous chemistry have been made, much remains to be done.

The impact of aerosol emissions on the 1.5 °C pathways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hienola, Anca; Partanen, Antti-Ilari; Pietikäinen, Joni-Pekka; O’Donnell, Declan; Korhonen, Hannele; Damon Matthews, H.; Laaksonen, Ari

2018-04-01

To assess the impact of anthropogenic aerosol emission reduction on limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 °C or 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, two climate modeling approaches have been used (MAGICC6, and a combination of ECHAM-HAMMOZ and the UVic ESCM), with two aerosol control pathways under two greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction scenarios. We found that aerosol emission reductions associated with CO2 co-emissions had a significant warming effect during the first half of the century and that the near-term warming is dependent on the pace of aerosol emission reduction. The modeling results show that these aerosol emission reductions account for about 0.5 °C warming relative to 2015, on top of the 1 °C above pre-industrial levels that were already reached in 2015. We found also that the decreases in aerosol emissions lead to different decreases in the magnitude of the aerosol radiative forcing in the two models. By 2100, the aerosol forcing is projected by ECHAM–UVic to diminish in magnitude by 0.96 W m‑2 and by MAGICC6 by 0.76 W m‑2 relative to 2000. Despite this discrepancy, the climate responses in terms of temperature are similar. Aggressive aerosol control due to air quality legislation affects the peak temperature, which is 0.2 °C–0.3 °C above the 1.5 °C limit even within the most ambitious CO2/GHG reduction scenario. At the end of the century, the temperature differences between aerosol reduction scenarios in the context of ambitious CO2 mitigation are negligible.

The Impact of Pre-Industrial Land Use Change on Atmospheric Composition and Aerosol Radiative Forcing.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, D. S.; Carslaw, K. S.; Spracklen, D. V.; Folberth, G.; Kaplan, J. O.; Pringle, K.; Scott, C.

2015-12-01

Anthropogenic land use change (LUC) has had a major impact on the climate by altering the amount of carbon stored in vegetation, changing surface albedo and modifying the levels of both biogenic and pyrogenic emissions. While previous studies of LUC have largely focused on the first two components, there has recently been a recognition that changes to aerosol and related pre-cursor gas emissions from LUC are equally important. Furthermore, it has also recently been recognised that the pre-industrial (PI) to present day (PD) radiative forcing (RF) of climate from aerosol cloud interactions (ACI) due to anthropogenic emissions is highly sensitive to the amount of natural aerosol that was present in the PI. This suggests that anthropogenic RF from ACI may be highly sensitive to land-use in the PI. There are currently two commonly used baseline reference years for the PI; 1750 and 1860. Rapid LUC occurred between 1750 and 1860, with large reductions in natural vegetation cover in Eastern Northern America, Europe, Central Russia, India and Eastern China as well as lower reductions in parts of Brazil and Africa. This LUC will have led to significant changes in biogenic and fire emissions with implications for natural aerosol concentrations and PI-to-PD RF. The focus of this study is therefore to quantify the impact of LUC between 1750 and 1860 on aerosol concentrations and PI-to-PD RF calculations from ACI. We use the UK Met Office HadGEM3-UKCA coupled-chemistry-climate model to calculate the impacts of anthropogenic emissions and anthropogenic LUC on aerosol size distributions in both 1750 and 1860. We prescribe LUC using the KK10 historical dataset of land cover change. Monoterpene emissions are coupled directly to the prescribed LUC through the JULES land surface scheme in HadGEM3. Fire emissions from LUC were calculated offline using the fire module LPJ-LMfire in the Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic global vegetation model. To separate out the impacts of LUC from

The impact of precipitation evaporation on the atmospheric aerosol distribution in EC-Earth v3.2.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruine, Marco; Krol, Maarten; van Noije, Twan; Le Sager, Philippe; Röckmann, Thomas

2018-04-01

The representation of aerosol-cloud interaction in global climate models (GCMs) remains a large source of uncertainty in climate projections. Due to its complexity, precipitation evaporation is either ignored or taken into account in a simplified manner in GCMs. This research explores various ways to treat aerosol resuspension and determines the possible impact of precipitation evaporation and subsequent aerosol resuspension on global aerosol burdens and distribution. The representation of aerosol wet deposition by large-scale precipitation in the EC-Earth model has been improved by utilising additional precipitation-related 3-D fields from the dynamical core, the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) general circulation model, in the chemistry and aerosol module Tracer Model, version 5 (TM5). A simple approach of scaling aerosol release with evaporated precipitation fraction leads to an increase in the global aerosol burden (+7.8 to +15 % for different aerosol species). However, when taking into account the different sizes and evaporation rate of raindrops following Gong et al. (2006), the release of aerosols is strongly reduced, and the total aerosol burden decreases by -3.0 to -8.5 %. Moreover, inclusion of cloud processing based on observations by Mitra et al. (1992) transforms scavenged small aerosol to coarse particles, which enhances removal by sedimentation and hence leads to a -10 to -11 % lower aerosol burden. Finally, when these two effects are combined, the global aerosol burden decreases by -11 to -19 %. Compared to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite observations, aerosol optical depth (AOD) is generally underestimated in most parts of the world in all configurations of the TM5 model and although the representation is now physically more realistic, global AOD shows no large improvements in spatial patterns. Similarly, the agreement of the vertical profile with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP

A Comparison of Aerosol Optical Property Measurements Made During the DOE Aerosol Intensive Operating Period and Their Effects on Regional Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strawa, Anthony W.; Hallar, A. G.; Arnott, W. P.; Covert, D.; Elleman, R.; Ogren, J.; Schmid, B.; Luu, A.

2004-01-01

The amount of radiant energy an aerosol absorbs has profound effects on climate and air quality. It is ironic that aerosol absorption coefficient is one of the most difficult to measure aerosol properties. One of the main purposes of the DOE Aerosol Intensive Operating Period (IOP) flown in May, 2003 was to assess our ability to measure absorption coefficient in situ. This paper compares measurements of aerosol optical properties made during the IOP. Measurements of aerosol absorption coefficient were made by Particle Soot Absorption Photometer (PSAP) aboard the CIRPAS Twin-Otter (U. Washington) and on the DOE Cessna 172 (NOAA-C,MDL). Aerosol absorption coefficient was also measured by a photoacoustic instrument (DRI) that was operated on an aircraft for the first time during the IOP. A new cavity ring-down (CRD) instrument, called Cadenza (NASA-AkC), measures the aerosol extinction coefficient for 675 nm and 1550 nm light, and simultaneously measures the scattering coefficient at 675 nm. Absorption coefficient is obtained from the difference of measured extinction and scattering within the instrument. Measurements of absorption coefficient from all of these instruments during appropriate periods are compared. During the IOP, several significant aerosol layers were sampled aloft. These layers are identified in the remote (AATS-14) as well as in situ measurements. Extinction profiles measured by Cadenza are compared to those derived from the Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14, NASA-ARC). The regional radiative impact of these layers is assessed by using the measured aerosol optical properties in a radiative transfer model.

The economics (or lack thereof) of aerosol geoengineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goes, M.; Keller, K.; Tuana, N.

2009-04-01

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are changing the Earth's climate and impose substantial risks for current and future generations. What are scientifically sound, economically viable, and ethically defendable strategies to manage these climate risks? Ratified international agreements call for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Recent proposals, however, call for the deployment of a different approach: to geoengineer climate by injecting aerosol precursors into the stratosphere. Published economic studies typically suggest that substituting aerosol geoengineering for abatement of carbon dioxide emissions results in large net monetary benefits. However, these studies neglect the risks of aerosol geoengineering due to (i) the potential for future geoengineering failures and (ii) the negative impacts associated with the aerosol forcing. Here we use a simple integrated assessment model of climate change to analyze potential economic impacts of aerosol geoengineering strategies over a wide range of uncertain parameters such as climate sensitivity, the economic damages due to climate change, and the economic damages due to aerosol geoengineering forcing. The simplicity of the model provides the advantages of parsimony and transparency, but it also imposes severe caveats on the interpretation of the results. For example, the analysis is based on a globally aggregated model and is hence silent on the question of intragenerational distribution of costs and benefits. In addition, the analysis neglects the effects of endogenous learning about the climate system. We show that the risks associated with a future geoengineering failure and negative impacts of aerosol forcings can cause geoenginering strategies to fail an economic cost-benefit test. One key to this finding is that a geoengineering failure would lead to dramatic and abrupt climatic changes. The monetary damages due to this failure can

Air pollution and climate response to aerosol direct radiative ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Decadal hemispheric Weather Research and Forecast-Community Multiscale Air Quality simulations from 1990 to 2010 were conducted to examine the meteorology and air quality responses to the aerosol direct radiative effects. The model's performance for the simulation of hourly surface temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and direction was evaluated through comparison with observations from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center Integrated Surface Data. The inclusion of aerosol direct radiative effects improves the model's ability to reproduce the trend in daytime temperature range which over the past two decades was increasing in eastern China but decreasing in eastern U.S. and Europe. Trends and spatial and diurnal variations of the surface-level gaseous and particle concentrations to the aerosol direct effect were analyzed. The inclusion of aerosol direct radiative effects was found to increase the surface-level concentrations of SO2, NO2, O3, SO42−, NO3−, and particulate matter 2.5 in eastern China, eastern U.S., and Europe by 1.5–2.1%, 1–1.5%, 0.1–0.3%, 1.6–2.3%, 3.5–10.0%, and 2.2–3.2%, respectively, on average over the entire 21 year period. However, greater impacts are noted during polluted days with increases of 7.6–10.6%, 6.2–6.7%, 2.0–3.0%, 7.8–9.5%, 11.1–18.6%, and 7.2–10.1%, respectively. Due to the aerosol direct radiative effects, stabilizing of the atmosphere associated with reduced planetary boundary layer height a

Impacts of Future Climate, Emission, and Land Use Changes on Aerosols and Air Quality over the Continental

EPA Science Inventory

Changes in climate, emission, and land use in the U.S. over the next century are imminent. The response of geologic, biogenic, and anthropogenic aerosol to interactions between these changes, however, are more uncertain and difficult to quantify. To explore these interactions, ...

Towards Consistent Aerosol and Cloud Climate Data Records from the Along Track Scanning Radiometer instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, G.

2015-12-01

The ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme has provided a mechanism for the production of new long-term data records of essential climate variables (ECVs) defined by WMO Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). These include consistent cloud (from the MODIS, AVHRR, ATSR-2 and AATSR instruments) and aerosol (from ATSR-2 and AATSR) products produced using the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) scheme. This talk will present an overview of the newly produced ORAC cloud and aerosol datasets, their evaluation and a joint aerosol-cloud product produced for the 1995-2012 ATSR-2-AATSR data record.

Aqueous aerosol SOA formation: impact on aerosol physical properties.

PubMed

Woo, Joseph L; Kim, Derek D; Schwier, Allison N; Li, Ruizhi; McNeill, V Faye

2013-01-01

Organic chemistry in aerosol water has recently been recognized as a potentially important source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) material. This SOA material may be surface-active, therefore potentially affecting aerosol heterogeneous activity, ice nucleation, and CCN activity. Aqueous aerosol chemistry has also been shown to be a potential source of light-absorbing products ("brown carbon"). We present results on the formation of secondary organic aerosol material in aerosol water and the associated changes in aerosol physical properties from GAMMA (Gas-Aerosol Model for Mechanism Analysis), a photochemical box model with coupled gas and detailed aqueous aerosol chemistry. The detailed aerosol composition output from GAMMA was coupled with two recently developed modules for predicting a) aerosol surface tension and b) the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the aerosol, based on our previous laboratory observations. The simulation results suggest that the formation of oligomers and organic acids in bulk aerosol water is unlikely to perturb aerosol surface tension significantly. Isoprene-derived organosulfates are formed in high concentrations in acidic aerosols under low-NO(x) conditions, but more experimental data are needed before the potential impact of these species on aerosol surface tension may be evaluated. Adsorption of surfactants from the gas phase may further suppress aerosol surface tension. Light absorption by aqueous aerosol SOA material is driven by dark glyoxal chemistry and is highest under high-NO(x) conditions, at high relative humidity, in the early morning hours. The wavelength dependence of the predicted absorption spectra is comparable to field observations and the predicted mass absorption efficiencies suggest that aqueous aerosol chemistry can be a significant source of aerosol brown carbon under urban conditions.

The Impact of the Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing on Deep Convection and Air Quality in the Pearl River Delta Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Z.; Yim, Steve H. L.; Wang, C.; Lau, N. C.

2018-05-01

Literature has reported the remarkable aerosol impact on low-level cloud by direct radiative forcing (DRF). Impacts on middle-upper troposphere cloud are not yet fully understood, even though this knowledge is important for regions with a large spatial heterogeneity of emissions and aerosol concentration. We assess the aerosol DRF and its cloud response in June (with strong convection) in Pearl River Delta region for 2008-2012 at cloud-resolving scale using an air quality-climate coupled model. Aerosols suppress deep convection by increasing atmospheric stability leading to less evaporation from the ground. The relative humidity is reduced in middle-upper troposphere due to induced reduction in both evaporation from the ground and upward motion. The cloud reduction offsets 20% of the aerosol DRF. The weaker vertical mixing further increases surface aerosol concentration by up to 2.90 μg/m3. These findings indicate the aerosol DRF impact on deep convection and in turn regional air quality.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; Goldstein, Allen H.; Guenther, Alex B.; Jimenez, Jose L.; Kuang, Chongai; Laskin, Alexander; Martin, Scot T.; Ng, Nga Lee; Petaja, Tuukka; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Rasch, Philip J.; Roldin, Pontus; Seinfeld, John H.; Shilling, John; Smith, James N.; Thornton, Joel A.; Volkamer, Rainer; Wang, Jian; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Zelenyuk, Alla; Zhang, Qi

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.

Technical Note: On the use of nudging for aerosol-climate model intercomparison studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; Wan, H.; Liu, X.; Ghan, S. J.; Kooperman, G. J.; Ma, P.-L.; Rasch, P. J.; Neubauer, D.; Lohmann, U.

2014-08-01

Nudging as an assimilation technique has seen increased use in recent years in the development and evaluation of climate models. Constraining the simulated wind and temperature fields using global weather reanalysis facilitates more straightforward comparison between simulation and observation, and reduces uncertainties associated with natural variabilities of the large-scale circulation. On the other hand, the forcing introduced by nudging can be strong enough to change the basic characteristics of the model climate. In the paper we show that for the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5), due to the systematic temperature bias in the standard model and the sensitivity of simulated ice formation to anthropogenic aerosol concentration, nudging towards reanalysis results in substantial reductions in the ice cloud amount and the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on long-wave cloud forcing. In order to reduce discrepancies between the nudged and unconstrained simulations, and meanwhile take the advantages of nudging, two alternative experimentation methods are evaluated. The first one constrains only the horizontal winds. The second method nudges both winds and temperature, but replaces the long-term climatology of the reanalysis by that of the model. Results show that both methods lead to substantially improved agreement with the free-running model in terms of the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget and cloud ice amount. The wind-only nudging is more convenient to apply, and provides higher correlations of the wind fields, geopotential height and specific humidity between simulation and reanalysis. Results from both CAM5 and a second aerosol-climate model ECHAM6-HAM2 also indicate that compared to the wind-and-temperature nudging, constraining only winds leads to better agreement with the free-running model in terms of the estimated shortwave cloud forcing and the simulated convective activities. This suggests nudging the horizontal winds but not temperature is a

Coupling Satellite and Ground-Based Instruments to Map Climate Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charlson, Robert J.; Anderson, Theodore L.; Hostetler, Chris (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols is a significant but highly uncertain factor in global climate change. Only satellites can offer the global coverage essential to reducing this uncertainty; however, satellite measurements must be coupled with correlative, in situ measurements both to constrain the aerosol optical properties required in satellite retrieval algorithms and to provide chemical identification of aerosol sources. This grant funded the first two years of a three-year project which seeks to develop methodologies for combining spaceborne lidar with in-situ aerosol data sets to improve estimates of direct aerosol climate forcing. Progress under this two-year grant consisted in the development and deployment of a new in-situ capability for measuring aerosol 180' backscatter and the extinction-to-backscatter ratio. This new measurement capacity allows definitive lidar/in-situ comparisons and improves our ability to interpret lidar data in terms of climatically relevant quantities such as the extinction coefficient and optical depth. Measurements were made along the coast of Washington State, in Central Illinois, over the Indian Ocean, and in the Central Pacific. Thus, this research, combined with previous measurements by others, is rapidly building toward a global data set of extinction-to-backscatter ratio for key aerosol types. Such information will be critical to interpreting lidar data from the upcoming PICASSO-CENA, or P-C, satellite mission. Another aspect of this project is to investigate innovative ways to couple the lidar-satellite signal with targeted in-situ measurements toward a direct determination of aerosol forcing. This aspect is progressing in collaboration with NASA Langley's P-C lidar simulator and radiative transfer modeling by the University of Lille, France.

Coupling Satellite and Ground-Based Instruments to Map Climate Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charlson, Robert J.; Anderson, Theodore L.; Hostetler, Chris (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols is a significant but highly uncertain factor in global climate change. Only satellites can offer the global coverage essential to reducing this uncertainty; however, satellite measurements must be coupled with correlative, in situ measurements both to constrain the aerosol optical properties required in satellite retrieval algorithms and to provide chemical identification of aerosol sources. This grant funded the third year of a three-year project which seeks to develop methodologies for combining spaceborne lidar with in-situ aerosol data sets to improve estimates of direct aerosol climate forcing. Progress under this one-year grant consisted in analysis and publication of field studies using a new in-situ capability for measuring aerosol 180 deg backscatter and the extinction-to-backscatter ratio. This new measurement capacity allows definitive lidar/in-situ comparisons and improves our ability to interpret lidar data in terms of climatically relevant quantities such as the extinction coefficient and optical depth. Analyzed data consisted of measurements made along the coast of Washington State, in Central Illinois, over the Indian Ocean, and in the Central Pacific. Thus, this research, combined with previous measurements by others, is rapidly building toward a global data set of extinction-to-backscatter ratio for key aerosol types. Such information will be critical to interpreting lidar data from the upcoming PICASSO-CENA, or P-C, satellite mission. Another aspect of this project is to investigate innovative ways to couple the lidar-satellite signal with target in-situ measurements toward a direct determination of aerosol forcing. This aspect is progressing in collaboration with NASA Langley's P-C lidar simulator.

The Chemical Composition and Mixing State of Sea Spray Aerosol and Organic Aerosol in the Winter-Spring Arctic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirpes, R.; Bondy, A. L.; Bonanno, D.; Moffet, R.; Wang, B.; Laskin, A.; Ault, A. P.; Pratt, K.

2016-12-01

The Arctic region is undergoing rapid transformations and loss of sea ice due to climate change. With increased sea ice fracturing resulting in greater open ocean surface, winter emissions of sea spray aerosol (SSA) are expected to be increasing. Additionally, during the winter-spring transition, Arctic haze contributes to the Arctic aerosol budget. The magnitude of aerosol climate effects depends on the aerosol composition and mixing state (distribution of chemical species within and between particles). However, few studies of aerosol chemistry have been conducted in the winter Arctic, despite it being a time when aerosol impacts on clouds are expected to be significant. To study aerosol composition and mixing state in the winter Arctic, atmospheric particles were collected near Barrow, Alaska in January and February 2014 for off-line individual particle chemical analysis. SSA was the most prevalent particle type observed. Sulfate and nitrate were observed to be internally mixed with SSA and organic aerosol. Greater than 98% of observed SSA particles contained organic content, with 15-35% organic volume fraction on average for individual particles. The SSA organic compounds consisted of carbohydrates, lipids, and fatty acids found in the seawater surface microlayer. SSA was determined to be emitted from open leads, while transported sulfate and nitrate contributed to aging of SSA and organic aerosol. Determining the aerosol chemical composition and mixing state in the winter Arctic will further the understanding of how individual aerosol particles impact climate through radiative effects and cloud formation.

The Joint Aerosol-Monsoon Experiment: A New Challenge to Monsoon Climate Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lau, William K. M.

2008-01-01

Aerosol and monsoon related droughts and floods are two of the most serious environmental hazards confronting more than 60% of the population of the world living in the Asian monsoon countries. In recent years, thanks to improved satellite and in-situ observations, and better models, great strides have been made in aerosol, and monsoon research respectively. There is now a growing body of evidence suggesting that interaction of aerosol forcing with water cycle dynamics in monsoon regions may substantially alter the redistribution of energy at the earth surface and in the atmosphere, and therefore significantly impact monsoon rainfall variability and long term trends. In this talk, I will describe issues related to societal needs, scientific background, and challenges in studies of aerosol-water cycle interaction in Asian monsoon regions. As a first step towards addressing these issues, the authors call for an integrated observation and modeling research approach aimed at the interactions between aerosol chemistry and radiative effects and monsoon dynamics of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land system. A Joint Aerosol-Monsoon Experiment (JAMEX) is proposed for 2007-2011, with an enhanced observation period during 2008-09, encompassing diverse arrays of observations from surface, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites of physical and chemical properties of aerosols, long range aerosol transport as well as meteorological and oceanographic parameters in the Indo-Pacific Asian monsoon region. JAMEX will leverage on coordination among many ongoing and planned national programs on aerosols and monsoon research in China, India, Japan, Nepal, Italy, US, as well as international research programs of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Climatic impact of volcanic eruptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rampino, Michael R.

1991-01-01

Studies have attempted to 'isolate' the volcanic signal in noisy temperature data. This assumes that it is possible to isolate a distinct volcanic signal in a record that may have a combination of forcings (ENSO, solar variability, random fluctuations, volcanism) that all interact. The key to discovering the greatest effects of volcanoes on short-term climate may be to concentrate on temperatures in regions where the effects of aerosol clouds may be amplified by perturbed atmospheric circulation patterns. This is especially true in subpolar and midlatitude areas affected by changes in the position of the polar front. Such climatic perturbation can be detected in proxy evidence such as decrease in tree-ring widths and frost rings, changes in the treeline, weather anomalies, severity of sea-ice in polar and subpolar regions, and poor grain yields and crop failures. In low latitudes, sudden temperature drops were correlated with the passage overhead of the volcanic dust cloud (Stothers, 1984). For some eruptions, such as Tambora, 1815, these kinds of proxy and anectdotal information were summarized in great detail in a number of papers and books (e.g., Post, 1978; Stothers, 1984; Stommel and Stommel, 1986; C. R. Harrington, in press). These studies lead to the general conclusion that regional effects on climate, sometimes quite severe, may be the major impact of large historical volcanic aerosol clouds.

Impacts of aerosol pollutant mitigation on lowland rice yields in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tianyi; Li, Tao; Yue, Xu; Yang, Xiaoguang

2017-10-01

Aerosol pollution in China is significantly altering radiative transfer processes and is thereby potentially affecting rice photosynthesis and yields. However, the response of rice photosynthesis to aerosol-induced radiative perturbations is still not well understood. Here, we employ a process-based modelling approach to simulate changes in incoming radiation (RAD) and the diffuse radiation fraction (DF) with aerosol mitigation in China and their associated impacts on rice yields. Aerosol reduction has the positive effect of increasing RAD and the negative effect of decreasing DF on rice photosynthesis and yields. In rice production areas where the average RAD during the growing season is lower than 250 W m-2, aerosol reduction is beneficial for higher rice yields, whereas in areas with RAD>250 W m-2, aerosol mitigation causes yield declines due to the associated reduction in the DF, which decreases the light use efficiency. As a net effect, rice yields were estimated to significantly increase by 0.8%-2.6% with aerosol concentrations reductions from 20 to 100%, which is lower than the estimates obtained in earlier studies that only considered the effects of RAD. This finding suggests that both RAD and DF are important processes influencing rice yields and should be incorporated into future assessments of agricultural responses to variations in aerosol-induced radiation under climate change.

Interannual to decadal climate variability of sea salt aerosols in the coupled climate model CESM1.0: Climate variability of sea salt aerosols

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Li; Pierce, David W.; Russell, Lynn M.

This study examines multi-year climate variability associated with sea salt aerosols and their contribution to the variability of shortwave cloud forcing (SWCF) using a 150-year simulation for pre-industrial conditions of the Community Earth System Model version 1.0 (CESM1). The results suggest that changes in sea salt and related cloud and radiative properties on interannual timescales are dominated by the ENSO cycle. Sea salt variability on longer (interdecadal) timescales is associated with low-frequency Pacific ocean variability similar to the interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), but does not show a statistically significant spectral peak. A multivariate regression suggests that sea salt aerosol variabilitymore » may contribute to SWCF variability in the tropical Pacific, explaining up to 25-35% of the variance in that region. Elsewhere, there is only a small aerosol influence on SWCF through modifying cloud droplet number and liquid water path that contributes to the change of cloud effective radius and cloud optical depth (and hence cloud albedo), producing a multi-year aerosol-cloud-wind interaction.« less

Understanding How Biomass Burning Impacts Climate Change

ScienceCinema

Aiken, Allison

2018-06-12

Biomass burning in Africa is creating a plume that spreads across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Brazil. Allison Aiken, a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, collects data about the black carbon aerosols within this plume and their impact on the environment to help improve global climate modeling. A leader in energy science, Los Alamos develops climate models in support of the Laboratory’s mission to strengthen the nation’s energy security. Allison’s work is part of FIDO, a field operations team funded by the Energy Department’s Office of Science’s ARM Climate Research Facility.

North Atlantic Aerosol Properties for Radiative Impact Assessments. Derived from Column Closure Analyses in TARFOX and ACE-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, Philip A.; Bergstrom, Robert A.; Schmid, Beat; Livingston, John M.

2000-01-01

Aerosol effects on atmospheric radiative fluxes provide a forcing function that can change the climate in potentially significant ways. This aerosol radiative forcing is a major source of uncertainty in understanding the climate change of the past century and predicting future climate. To help reduce this uncertainty, the 1996 Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX) and the 1997 Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) measured the properties and radiative effects of aerosols over the Atlantic Ocean. Both experiments used remote and in situ measurements from aircraft and the surface, coordinated with overpasses by a variety of satellite radiometers. TARFOX focused on the urban-industrial haze plume flowing from the United States over the western Atlantic, whereas ACE-2 studied aerosols over the eastern Atlantic from both Europe and Africa. These aerosols often have a marked impact on satellite-measured radiances. However, accurate derivation of flux changes, or radiative forcing, from the satellite measured radiances or retrieved aerosol optical depths (AODs) remains a difficult challenge. Here we summarize key initial results from TARFOX and ACE-2, with a focus on closure analyses that yield aerosol microphysical models for use in improved assessments of flux changes. We show how one such model gives computed radiative flux sensitivities (dF/dAOD) that agree with values measured in TARFOX and preliminary values computed for the polluted marine boundary layer in ACE-2. A companion paper uses the model to compute aerosol-induced flux changes over the North Atlantic from AVHRR-derived AOD fields.

A dichotomy in primary marine organic aerosol-cloud-climate system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceburnis, D.; Ovadnevaite, J.; Martucci, G.; Bialek, J.; Monahan, C.; Rinaldi, M.; Facchini, C.; Berresheim, H.; Worsnop, D. R.; O'Dowd, C.

2011-12-01

D. Ceburnis1, J. Ovadnevaite1, G. Martucci1, J. Bialek1, C. Monahan1, M. Rinaldi2, M. C. Facchini2, H. Berresheim1, D. R. Worsnop3,4 and C. D. O'Dowd1 1School of Physics & Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland 2Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council, Bologna, 20129, Italy. 3 Aerodyne Research, Inc., 45 Manning Road, Billerica, MA 01821-3976, USA 4 Physics Department, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland Organic matter has been observed to significantly contribute to particulate matter in every environment including pristine remote oceans. A significant if not dominant contribution of insoluble organic matter to marine aerosol has been proved to be of biogenic origin1,2. High time resolution measurements of marine organic matter have demonstrated a dynamic system with regular organic matter plume events occurring during summer3 as well as frequent open ocean particle formation events4. High-time resolution measurements of primary marine organic sea-spray physico-chemical properties reveal an apparent dichotomous behavior in terms of water uptake: specifically sea-spray aerosol enriched in organic matter possesses a low hygroscopic Growth Factor (GF~1.25) while simultaneously having a cloud condensation nucleus/condensation nuclei (CCN/CN) activation efficiency of between 83% at 0.25% supersaturation and 100% at 0.75%5. Simultaneous retrieval of Cloud Droplet Number Concentration (CDNC) during primary organic aerosol plumes reveal CDNC concentrations of 350 cm-3 in newly formed marine stratocumulus cloud for boundary layer organic mass concentrations of 3-4 ug m-36. It is suggested that marine hydrogels are responsible for this dichotomous behavior which has profound impacts to aerosol-cloud-climate system along with a better understood process analysis of aerosol formation by sea-spray7. A hydrophobic character of organic matter

Black carbon aerosol mixing state, organic aerosols and aerosol optical properties over the UK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMeeking, G. R.; Morgan, W. T.; Flynn, M.; Highwood, E. J.; Turnbull, K.; Haywood, J.; Coe, H.

2011-05-01

Black carbon (BC) aerosols absorb sunlight thereby leading to a positive radiative forcing and a warming of climate and can also impact human health through their impact on the respiratory system. The state of mixing of BC with other aerosol species, particularly the degree of internal/external mixing, has been highlighted as a major uncertainty in assessing its radiative forcing and hence its climate impact, but few in situ observations of mixing state exist. We present airborne single particle soot photometer (SP2) measurements of refractory BC (rBC) mass concentrations and mixing state coupled with aerosol composition and optical properties measured in urban plumes and regional pollution over the UK. All data were obtained using instrumentation flown on the UK's BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM). We measured sub-micron aerosol composition using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and used positive matrix factorization to separate hydrocarbon-like (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA). We found a higher number fraction of thickly coated rBC particles in air masses with large OOA relative to HOA, higher ozone-to-nitrogen oxides (NOx) ratios and large concentrations of total sub-micron aerosol mass relative to rBC mass concentrations. The more ozone- and OOA-rich air masses were associated with transport from continental Europe, while plumes from UK cities had higher HOA and NOx and fewer thickly coated rBC particles. We did not observe any significant change in the rBC mass absorption efficiency calculated from rBC mass and light absorption coefficients measured by a particle soot absorption photometer despite observing significant changes in aerosol composition and rBC mixing state. The contributions of light scattering and absorption to total extinction (quantified by the single scattering albedo; SSA) did change for different air masses, with lower SSA observed in

The impact of volcanic aerosol on the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex: mechanisms and sensitivity to forcing structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toohey, M.; Krüger, K.; Bittner, M.; Timmreck, C.; Schmidt, H.

2014-12-01

Observations and simple theoretical arguments suggest that the Northern Hemisphere (NH) stratospheric polar vortex is stronger in winters following major volcanic eruptions. However, recent studies show that climate models forced by prescribed volcanic aerosol fields fail to reproduce this effect. We investigate the impact of volcanic aerosol forcing on stratospheric dynamics, including the strength of the NH polar vortex, in ensemble simulations with the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model. The model is forced by four different prescribed forcing sets representing the radiative properties of stratospheric aerosol following the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo: two forcing sets are based on observations, and are commonly used in climate model simulations, and two forcing sets are constructed based on coupled aerosol-climate model simulations. For all forcings, we find that simulated temperature and zonal wind anomalies in the NH high latitudes are not directly impacted by anomalous volcanic aerosol heating. Instead, high-latitude effects result from enhancements in stratospheric residual circulation, which in turn result, at least in part, from enhanced stratospheric wave activity. High-latitude effects are therefore much less robust than would be expected if they were the direct result of aerosol heating. Both observation-based forcing sets result in insignificant changes in vortex strength. For the model-based forcing sets, the vortex response is found to be sensitive to the structure of the forcing, with one forcing set leading to significant strengthening of the polar vortex in rough agreement with observation-based expectations. Differences in the dynamical response to the forcing sets imply that reproducing the polar vortex responses to past eruptions, or predicting the response to future eruptions, depends on accurate representation of the space-time structure of the volcanic aerosol forcing.

Impact of future climate policy scenarios on air quality and aerosol-cloud interactions using an advanced version of CESM/CAM5: Part II. Future trend analysis and impacts of projected anthropogenic emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glotfelty, Timothy; Zhang, Yang

2017-03-01

Following a comprehensive evaluation of the Community Earth System Model modified at the North Carolina State University (CESM-NCSU), Part II describes the projected changes in the future state of the atmosphere under the representative concentration partway scenarios (RCP4.5 and 8.5) by 2100 for the 2050 time frame and examine the impact of climate change on future air quality under both scenarios, and the impact of projected emission changes under the RCP4.5 scenario on future climate through aerosol direct and indirect effects. Both the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 simulations predict similar changes in air quality by the 2050 period due to declining emissions under both scenarios. The largest differences occur in O3, which decreases by global mean of 1.4 ppb under RCP4.5 but increases by global mean of 2.3 ppb under RCP8.5 due to differences in methane levels, and PM10, which decreases by global mean of 1.2 μg m-3 under RCP4.5 and increases by global mean of 0.2 μg m-3 under RCP8.5 due to differences in dust and sea-salt emissions under both scenarios. Enhancements in cloud formation in the Arctic and Southern Ocean and increases of aerosol optical depth (AOD) in central Africa and South Asia dominate the change in surface radiation in both scenarios, leading to global average dimming of 1.1 W m-2 and 2.0 W m-2 in the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively. Declines in AOD, cloud formation, and cloud optical thickness from reductions of emissions of primary aerosols and aerosol precursors under RCP4.5 result in near surface warming of 0.2 °C from a global average increase of 0.7 W m-2 in surface downwelling solar radiation. This warming leads to a weakening of the Walker Circulation in the tropics, leading to significant changes in cloud and precipitation that mirror a shift in climate towards the negative phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation.

Biomass-Burning Aerosols in South East-Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsay, S.-C.; Hsu, N. C.; King, M. D.; Sun, W.-Y.

2004-01-01

Biomass burning has been a regular practice for land clearing and land conversion in many countries, especially those in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. However, the unique climatology of Southeast Asia is very different than that of Africa and South America, such that large-scale biomass burning causes smoke to interact extensively with clouds during the peak-burning season of March to April. Significant global sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2, CH4), chemically active gases (e.g., NO, CO, HC, CH3Br), and atmospheric aerosols are produced by biomass burning processes. These gases influence the Earth- atmosphere system, impacting both global climate and tropospheric chemistry. Some aerosols can serve as cloud condensation nuclei, which play an important role in determining cloud lifetime and precipitation, hence, altering the earth s radiation and water budget. Analyses from satellite measurements reveal the reflected solar (emitted thermal) radiation from clouds due to smoke aerosols can be reduced (enhanced) by 100 (20) Watts per square meter over the month of March 2000. In addition, the reduction in cloud spectral reflectance is large enough to lead to significant errors in satellite retrievals of cloud properties (e.g., optical thickness and effective radius). The fresh water distribution in this region is highly dependent on monsoon rainfall; in fact, the predictability of the tropical climate system is much reduced during the boreal spring. Therefore, to accurately assess the impact of smoke aerosols in this region requires continuous observations from satellites, aircraft, ground-based networks and dedicated field experiments. BASE-ASIA initiative has been proposed and will be discussed.

Improving our fundamental understanding of the role of aerosol-cloud interactions in the climate system.

PubMed

Seinfeld, John H; Bretherton, Christopher; Carslaw, Kenneth S; Coe, Hugh; DeMott, Paul J; Dunlea, Edward J; Feingold, Graham; Ghan, Steven; Guenther, Alex B; Kahn, Ralph; Kraucunas, Ian; Kreidenweis, Sonia M; Molina, Mario J; Nenes, Athanasios; Penner, Joyce E; Prather, Kimberly A; Ramanathan, V; Ramaswamy, Venkatachalam; Rasch, Philip J; Ravishankara, A R; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Stephens, Graeme; Wood, Robert

2016-05-24

The effect of an increase in atmospheric aerosol concentrations on the distribution and radiative properties of Earth's clouds is the most uncertain component of the overall global radiative forcing from preindustrial time. General circulation models (GCMs) are the tool for predicting future climate, but the treatment of aerosols, clouds, and aerosol-cloud radiative effects carries large uncertainties that directly affect GCM predictions, such as climate sensitivity. Predictions are hampered by the large range of scales of interaction between various components that need to be captured. Observation systems (remote sensing, in situ) are increasingly being used to constrain predictions, but significant challenges exist, to some extent because of the large range of scales and the fact that the various measuring systems tend to address different scales. Fine-scale models represent clouds, aerosols, and aerosol-cloud interactions with high fidelity but do not include interactions with the larger scale and are therefore limited from a climatic point of view. We suggest strategies for improving estimates of aerosol-cloud relationships in climate models, for new remote sensing and in situ measurements, and for quantifying and reducing model uncertainty.

Improving Our Fundamental Understanding of the Role of Aerosol Cloud Interactions in the Climate System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seinfeld, John H.; Bretherton, Christopher; Carslaw, Kenneth S.; Coe, Hugh; DeMott, Paul J.; Dunlea, Edward J.; Feingold, Graham; Ghan, Steven; Guenther, Alex B.; Kahn, Ralph;

Improving our fundamental understanding of the role of aerosol-cloud interactions in the climate system

DOE PAGES

Seinfeld, John H.; Bretherton, Christopher; Carslaw, Kenneth S.; ...

2016-05-24

The effect of an increase in atmospheric aerosol concentrations on the distribution and radiative properties of Earth’s clouds is the most uncertain component of the overall global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are the tool for predicting future climate, but the treatment of aerosols, clouds, and aerosol-cloud radiative effects carries large uncertainties that directly affect GCM predictions, such as climate sensitivity. Predictions are hampered by the large range of scales of interaction between various components that need to be captured. Observation systems (remote sensing, in situ) are increasingly being used to constrain predictions but significant challengesmore » exist, to some extent because of the large range of scales and the fact that the various measuring systems tend to address different scales. Fine-scale models represent clouds, aerosols, and aerosol-cloud interactions with high fidelity but do not include interactions with the larger scale and are therefore limited from a climatic point of view. Lastly, we suggest strategies for improving estimates of aerosol-cloud relationships in climate models, for new remote sensing and in situ measurements, and for quantifying and reducing model uncertainty.« less

The Role of Air-sea Coupling in the Response of Climate Extremes to Aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahajan, S.

2017-12-01

Air-sea interactions dominate the climate of surrounding regions and thus also modulate the climate response to local and remote aerosol forcings. To clearly isolate the role of air-sea coupling in the climate response to aerosols, we conduct experiments with a full complexity atmosphere model that is coupled to a series of ocean models progressively increasing in complexity. The ocean models range from a data ocean model with prescribed SSTs, to a slab ocean model that only allows thermodynamic interactions, to a full dynamic ocean model. In a preliminary study, we have conducted single forcing experiments with black carbon aerosols in an atmosphere GCM coupled to a data ocean model and a slab ocean model. We find that while black carbon aerosols can intensify mean and extreme summer monsoonal precipitation over the Indian sub-continent, air-sea coupling can dramatically modulate this response. Black carbon aerosols in the vicinity of the Arabian Sea result in an increase of sea surface temperatures there in the slab ocean model, which intensify the low-level Somali Jet. The associated increase in moisture transport into Western India enhances the mean as well as extreme precipitation. In prescribed SST experiments, where SSTs are not allowed to respond BC aerosols, the response is muted. We will present results from a hierarchy of GCM simulations that investigate the role of air-sea coupling in the climate response to aerosols in more detail.

Effects of increasing aerosol on regional climate change in China: Observation and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Y.; Leung, L.; Ghan, S. J.

2002-12-01

We present regional simulations of climate, aerosol properties, and direct radiative forcing and climatic effects of aerosol and analyze the pollutant emissions and observed climatic data during the latter decades of last century in China. The regional model generally captures the spatial distributions and seasonal pattern of temperature and precipitation. Aerosol extinction coefficient and aerosol optical depth are generally well simulated in both magnitude and spatial distribution, which provides a reliable foundation for estimating the radiative forcing and climatic effects of aerosol. The radiative forcing of aerosol is in the range of -1 to -14 W m-2 in autumn and summer and -1 to -9 W m-2 in spring and winter, with substantial spatial variability at the sub-regional scale. A strong maximum in negative radiative forcing corresponding to the maximum optical depth is found over the Sichuan Basin, where emission as well as relative humidity are high, and stagnant atmospheric conditions inhibit pollutants dispersion. Negative radiative forcing of aerosol induces a surface cooling, which is stronger in the range of -0.6 to -1.2oC in autumn and winter than in spring (-0.3 to -0.6oC) and summer (0.0 to -0.9oC) over the Sichuan Basin and East China due to more significant effects of cloud and precipitation in the summer and spring. Aerosol-induced cooling is mainly contributed by cooling in the daytime temperature. The cooling reaches a maximum and is statistically significant in the Sichuan Basin. The effect of aerosol on precipitation is not evident in our simulations. The temporal and spatial patterns of temperature trends observed in the second half of the twentieth century, including the asymmetric daily maximum and minimum temperature trends, are at least qualitatively consistent with the simulated aerosol-induced cooling over the Sichuan Basin and East China. It supports the hypothesis that the observed temperature trends during the latter decades of the

Black carbon aerosol mixing state, organic aerosols and aerosol optical properties over the United Kingdom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMeeking, G. R.; Morgan, W. T.; Flynn, M.; Highwood, E. J.; Turnbull, K.; Haywood, J.; Coe, H.

2011-09-01

Black carbon (BC) aerosols absorb sunlight thereby leading to a positive radiative forcing and a warming of climate and can also impact human health through their impact on the respiratory system. The state of mixing of BC with other aerosol species, particularly the degree of internal/external mixing, has been highlighted as a major uncertainty in assessing its radiative forcing and hence its climate impact, but few in situ observations of mixing state exist. We present airborne single particle soot photometer (SP2) measurements of refractory BC (rBC) mass concentrations and mixing state coupled with aerosol composition and optical properties measured in urban plumes and regional pollution over the United Kingdom. All data were obtained using instrumentation flown on the UK's BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM). We measured sub-micron aerosol composition using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and used positive matrix factorization to separate hydrocarbon-like (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA). We found a higher number fraction of thickly coated rBC particles in air masses with large OOA relative to HOA, higher ozone-to-nitrogen oxides (NOx) ratios and large concentrations of total sub-micron aerosol mass relative to rBC mass concentrations. The more ozone- and OOA-rich air masses were associated with transport from continental Europe, while plumes from UK cities had higher HOA and NOx and fewer thickly coated rBC particles. We did not observe any significant change in the rBC mass absorption efficiency calculated from rBC mass and light absorption coefficients measured by a particle soot absorption photometer despite observing significant changes in aerosol composition and rBC mixing state. The contributions of light scattering and absorption to total extinction (quantified by the single scattering albedo; SSA) did change for different air masses, with lower SSA

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: Knowledge Gaps, Planned Observations to Address Them, and Implications for Global Climate Change Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redemann, Jens; Wood, R.; Zuidema, P.; Haywood, J.; Luna, B.; Abel, S.

2015-01-01

Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earth's biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles, yet the fate of these particles and their influence on regional and global climate is poorly understood. Particles lofted into the mid-troposphere are transported westward over the South-East (SE) Atlantic, home to one of the three permanent subtropical Stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The stratocumulus "climate radiators" are critical to the regional and global climate system. They interact with dense layers of BB aerosols that initially overlay the cloud deck, but later subside and are mixed into the clouds. These interactions include adjustments to aerosol-induced solar heating and microphysical effects. As emphasized in the latest IPCC report, the global representation of these aerosol-cloud interaction processes in climate models is one of the largest uncertainty in estimates of future climate. Hence, new observations over the SE Atlantic have significant implications for global climate change scenarios. We discuss the current knowledge of aerosol and cloud property distributions based on satellite observations and sparse suborbital sampling, and describe planned field campaigns in the region. Specifically, we describe the scientific objectives and implementation of the following four synergistic, international research activities aimed at providing a process-level understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions over the SE Atlantic: 1) ORACLES (Observations of Aerosols above Clouds and their interactions), a five-year investigation between 2015 and 2019 with three Intensive Observation Periods (IOP), recently funded by the NASA Earth-Venture Suborbital Program, 2) CLARIFY-2016 (Cloud-Aerosol-Radiation Interactions and Forcing: Year 2016), a comprehensive observational and modeling programme funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and supported by the UK Met Office. 3) LASIC (Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds), a funded

Coupled Aerosol-Chemistry-Climate Twentieth-Century Transient Model Investigation: Trends in Short-Lived Species and Climate Responses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koch, Dorothy; Bauer, Susanne E.; Del Genio, Anthony; Faluvegi, Greg; McConnell, Joseph R.; Menon, Surabi; Miller, Ronald L.; Rind, David; Ruedy, Reto; Schmidt, Gavin A.;

Aerosol Effects on Radiation and Climate: Column Closure Experiments with Towers, Aircraft, and Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, Philip B.

1994-01-01

Many theoretical studies have shown that anthropogenic aerosol particles can change the radiation balance in an atmospheric column and might thereby exert a significant effect on the Earth's climate. In particular, recent calculations have shown that sulfate particles from anthropogenic combustion may already exert a cooling influence on the Earth that partially offsets the warming caused by the greenhouse gases from the same combustion. Despite the potential climatic importance of anthropogenic aerosols, simultaneous measurements of anthropogenic aerosol properties and their effect on atmospheric radiation have been very rare. Successful comparisons of measured radiation fields with those calculated from aerosol measurements - now referred to as column closure comparisons - are required to improve the accuracy and credibility of climate predictions. This paper reviews the column closure experiment performed at the Mt. Sutro Tower in San Francisco in 1975, in which elevated radiometers measured the change in Earth-plus-atmosphere albedo caused by an aerosol layer, while a lidar, sunphotometer, nephelometer, and other radiometers measured properties of the responsible aerosol. The time-dependent albedo calculated from the measured aerosol properties agreed with that measured by the tower radiometers. Also presented are designs for future column closure studies using radiometers and aerosol instruments on the ground, aircraft, and satellites. These designs draw upon algorithms and experience developed in the Sutro Tower study, as well as more recent experience with current measurement and analysis capabilities.

Sensitivity of atmospheric aerosol scavenging to precipitation intensity and frequency in the context of global climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Pei; Wu, Shiliang; McCarty, Jessica L.; Gao, Yang

2018-06-01

Wet deposition driven by precipitation is an important sink for atmospheric aerosols and soluble gases. We investigate the sensitivity of atmospheric aerosol lifetimes to precipitation intensity and frequency in the context of global climate change. Our sensitivity model simulations, through some simplified perturbations to precipitation in the GEOS-Chem model, show that the removal efficiency and hence the atmospheric lifetime of aerosols have significantly higher sensitivities to precipitation frequencies than to precipitation intensities, indicating that the same amount of precipitation may lead to different removal efficiencies of atmospheric aerosols. Combining the long-term trends of precipitation patterns for various regions with the sensitivities of atmospheric aerosol lifetimes to various precipitation characteristics allows us to examine the potential impacts of precipitation changes on atmospheric aerosols. Analyses based on an observational dataset show that precipitation frequencies in some regions have decreased in the past 14 years, which might increase the atmospheric aerosol lifetimes in those regions. Similar analyses based on multiple reanalysis meteorological datasets indicate that the changes of precipitation intensity and frequency over the past 30 years can lead to perturbations in the atmospheric aerosol lifetimes by 10 % or higher at the regional scale.

Guidelines for the aerosol climatic effects special study: An element of the NASA climate research program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Research to help develop better understanding of the role of aerosols in the Earth's radiative balance is summarized. Natural volcanic injections of aerosols into the stratosphere to understand and model any resultant evidence of climate change are considered. The approach involves: (1) measurements from aircraft, balloon and ground based platforms which complement and enhance the aerosol information derived from satellite data; (2) development of instruments required for some of these measurements; (3) theoretical and laboratory work to aid in interpreting and utilizing space based and in situ data; and (4) preparation for and execution of concentrated observations of stratospheric aerosols following a future large volcanic eruption.

Technical Note: On the use of nudging for aerosol-climate model intercomparison studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; Wan, H.; Liu, X.; Ghan, S. J.; Kooperman, G. J.; Ma, P.-L.; Rasch, P. J.

2014-04-01

Nudging is an assimilation technique widely used in the development and evaluation of climate models. Constraining the simulated wind and temperature fields using global weather reanalysis facilitates more straightforward comparison between simulation and observation, and reduces uncertainties associated with natural variabilities of the large-scale circulation. On the other hand, the forcing introduced by nudging can be strong enough to change the basic characteristics of the model climate. In the paper we show that for the Community Atmosphere Model version 5, due to the systematic temperature bias in the standard model and the sensitivity of simulated ice formation to anthropogenic aerosol concentration, nudging towards reanalysis results in substantial reductions in the ice cloud amount and the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on longwave cloud forcing. In order to reduce discrepancies between the nudged and unconstrained simulations and meanwhile take the advantages of nudging, two alternative experimentation methods are evaluated. The first one constrains only the horizontal winds. The second method nudges both winds and temperature, but replaces the long-term climatology of the reanalysis by that of the model. Results show that both methods lead to substantially improved agreement with the free-running model in terms of the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget and cloud ice amount. The wind-only nudging is more convenient to apply, and provides higher correlations of the wind fields, geopotential height and specific humidity between simulation and reanalysis. This suggests nudging the horizontal winds but not temperature is a good strategy for the investigation of aerosol indirect effects through ice clouds, since it provides well-constrained meteorology without strongly perturbing the model's mean climate.

The Impact of Aerosol Sources and Aging on CCN Formation in the Houston-Galveston-Gulf of Mexico Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, P.; Bates, T.; Coffman, D.; Covert, D.

2007-12-01

The impact of anthropogenic aerosol on cloud properties, cloud lifetime, and precipitation processes is one of the largest uncertainties in our current understanding of climate change. Aerosols affect cloud properties by serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) thereby leading to the formation of cloud droplets. The process of cloud drop activation is a function of both the size and chemistry of the aerosol particles which, in turn, depend on the source of the aerosol and transformations that occur downwind. In situ field measurements that can lead to an improved understanding of the process of cloud drop formation and simplifying parameterizations for improving the accuracy of climate models are highly desirable. During the Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS), the NOAA RV Ronald H. Brown encountered a wide variety of aerosol types ranging from marine near the Florida panhandle to urban and industrial in the Houston-Galveston area. These varied sources provided an opportunity to investigate the role of aerosol sources, aging, chemistry, and size in the activation of particles to form cloud droplets. Here, we use the correlation between variability in critical diameter for activation (determined empirically from measured CCN concentrations and the number size distribution) and aerosol composition to quantify the impact of composition on particle activation. Variability in aerosol composition is parameterized by the mass fraction of Hydrocarbon-like Organic Aerosol (HOA) for particle diameters less than 200 nm (vacuum aerodynamic). The HOA mass fraction in this size range is lowest for marine aerosol and higher for aerosol impacted by anthropogenic emissions. Combining all data collected at 0.44 percent supersaturation (SS) reveals that composition (defined in this way) explains 40 percent of the variance in the critical diameter. As expected, the dependence of activation on composition is strongest at lower SS. At the same time

Potential climate impact of Mount Pinatubo eruption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, James; Lacis, Andrew; Ruedy, Reto; Sato, Makiko

1992-01-01

The GISS global-climate model is used to make a preliminary estimate of Mount Pinatubo's climate impact. Assuming the aerosol optical depth is nearly twice as great as for the 1982 El Chichon eruption, the model forecasts a dramatic but temporary break in recent global warming trends. The simulations indicate that Pinatubo occurred too late in the year to prevent 1991 from becoming one of the warmest years in instrumental records, but intense aerosol cooling is predicted to begin late in 1991 and to maximize late in 1992. The predicted cooling is sufficiently large that by mid 1992 it should even overwhelm global warming associated with an El Nino that appears to be developing, but the El Nino could shift the time of minimum global temperature into 1993. The model predicts a return to record warm levels in the later 1990s. The effect is estimated of the predicted global cooling on such practical matters as the severity of the coming Soviet winter and the dates of cherry blossoming next spring.

Climate Change and Impacts Research Experiences for Urban Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchese, P.; Carlson, B. E.; Rosenzweig, C.; Austin, S. A.; Peteet, D. M.; Druyan, L.; Fulakeza, M.; Gaffin, S.; Scalzo, F.; Frost, J.; Moshary, F.; Greenbaum, S.; Cheung, T. K.; Howard, A.; Steiner, J. C.; Johnson, L. P.

2011-12-01

Climate change and impacts research for undergraduate urban students is the focus of the Center for Global Climate Research (CGCR). We describe student research and significant results obtained during the Summer 2011. The NSF REU site, is a collaboration between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The research teams are mentored by NASA scientists and CUNY faculty. Student projects include: Effects of Stratospheric Aerosols on Tropical Cyclone Activity in the North Atlantic Basin; Comparison of Aerosol Optical Depth and Angstrom Exponent Retrieved by AERONET, MISR, and MODIS Measurements; White Roofs to the Rescue: Combating the Urban Heat Island Effect; Tropospheric Ozone Investigations in New York City; Carbon Sequestration with Climate Change in Alaskan Peatlands; Validating Regional Climate Models for Western Sub-Sahara Africa; Bio-Remediation of Toxic Waste Sites: Mineral Characteristics of Cyanide-Treated Mining Waste; Assessment of an Ocean Mixing Parameterization for Climate Studies; Comparative Wind Speed through Doppler Sounding with Pulsed Infrared LIDAR; and Satellite Telemetry and Communications. The CGCR also partners with the New York City Research Initiative (NYCRI) at GISS. The center is supported by NSF ATM-0851932 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Remote Sensing of Aerosols from Satellites: Why Has It Been Do Difficult to Quantify Aerosol-Cloud Interactions for Climate Assessment, and How Can We Make Progress?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahn, Ralph A.

2015-01-01

The organizers of the National Academy of Sciences Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia Series on Improving Our Fundamental Understanding of the Role of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in the Climate System would like to post Ralph Kahn's presentation entitled Remote Sensing of Aerosols from Satellites: Why has it been so difficult to quantify aerosol-cloud interactions for climate assessment, and how can we make progress? to their public website.

Beyond MODIS: Developing an aerosol climate data record

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levy, R. C.; Mattoo, S.; Munchak, L. A.; Patadia, F.; Laszlo, I.; Holz, R.

2013-12-01

As defined by the National Research Council, a climate data record (CDR) is a time series of measurements of sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to determine climate variability and change. As one of our most pressing research questions concerns changes in global direct aerosol radiative forcing (DARF), creating an aerosol CDR is of high importance. To reduce our uncertainties in DARF, we need uncertainty in global aerosol optical depth (AOD) reduced to ×0.02 or better, or about 10% of global mean AOD (~0.15-0.20). To quantify aerosol trends with significance, we also need a stable time series at least 20-30 years. By this Fall-2013 AGU meeting, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) has been flying on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites for 14 years and 11.5 years, respectively. During this time, we have fine-tuned the aerosol retrieval algorithms and data processing protocols, resulting in a well characterized product of aerosol optical depth (AOD). MODIS AOD has been extensively compared to ground-based sunphotometer data, showing per-retrieval expected error (EE) of ×(0.03 + 5%) over ocean, and has been generally adopted as a robust and stable environmental data record (EDR). With the 2011 launch of the Visible and Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard Suomi-NPP, we have begun a new aerosol time series. The VIIRS AOD product has stabilized to the point where, compared to ground-based AERONET sunphotometer, the VIIRS AOD is within similar EE envelope as MODIS. Thus, if VIIRS continues to perform as expected, it too can provide a robust and stable aerosol EDR. What will it take to stitch MODIS and VIIRS into a robust aerosol CDR? Based on the recent experience of MODIS 'Collection 6' development, there are many details of aerosol retrieval that each lead to ×0.01 uncertainties in global AOD. These include 'radiative transfer' assumptions such as calculations for gas absorption and sea-level Rayleigh optical depth, 'decision

Seasonality of Aerosols the Southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ford, B. J.; Heald, C. L.

2012-12-01

Previous studies have suggested that increases in atmospheric aerosols of biogenic origin may have caused regional cooling over the southeastern United States in recent decades. Understanding the sources and behaviors of these aerosols is important for determining their role in a changing climate and managing their air quality impacts. In this study, we investigate the strong seasonality in aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed by MODIS, MISR, and CALIOP instruments over the southeastern United States and show that this is not simulated by a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). However, the model does reproduce surface PM 2.5 concentrations in the region as reported by the IMPROVE and Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) networks, as well as the muted seasonality of these concentrations. In addition, these surface measurements show that organic aerosol makes up a small fraction of total PM 2.5 and has relatively little seasonality, which calls into question the importance of biogenic aerosol as a driver for climate change in the region. Sounding profiles and ground observations of relative humidity suggest that the magnitude of seasonality in AOD cannot be explained by seasonal differences in the hygroscopic growth of aerosols. CALIOP measurements of the vertical profile of aerosol extinction confirm that the likely reconciliation of the differences in seasonality between the surface PM 2.5 and AOD observations is the formation of aerosol aloft, a process not captured by the model. These findings provide initial insights for the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) campaign in 2013 which aims to investigate the anthropogenic influence on biogenic aerosol formation in the Southeastern US and elucidate the impact on regional climate and air quality.

Aerosol microphysics simulations of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption with the UKCA composition-climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhomse, S. S.; Emmerson, K. M.; Mann, G. W.; Bellouin, N.; Carslaw, K. S.; Chipperfield, M. P.; Hommel, R.; Abraham, N. L.; Telford, P.; Braesicke, P.; Dalvi, M.; Johnson, C. E.; O'Connor, F.; Morgenstern, O.; Pyle, J. A.; Deshler, T.; Zawodny, J. M.; Thomason, L. W.

2014-01-01

We have enhanced the capability of a microphysical aerosol-chemistry module to simulate the atmospheric aerosol and precursor gases for both tropospheric and stratospheric conditions. Using the Mount Pinatubo eruption (June 1991) as a test case, we evaluate simulated aerosol properties in a composition-climate model against a range of satellite and in-situ observations. Simulations are performed assuming an injection of 20 Tg SO2 at 19-27 km in tropical latitudes, without any radiative feedback from the simulated aerosol. In both quiescent and volcanically perturbed conditions, simulated aerosol properties in the lower stratosphere show reasonable agreement with the observations. The model captures the observed timing of the maximum aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its decay timescale in both tropics and Northern Hemisphere (NH) mid-latitudes. There is also good qualitative agreement with the observations in terms of spatial and temporal variation of the aerosol effective radius (Reff), which peaks 6-8 months after the eruption. However, the model shows significant biases against some observational data sets. Simulated AOD and Surface Area Density (SAD) in the tropics are substantially higher than the gap-filled satellite data products during the first 6 months after the eruption. The model shows consistently weaker enhancement in Reff compared to satellite and in-situ measurements. Simulated aerosol particle size distribution is also compared to NH mid-latitude in-situ balloon sounding measurements of size-resolved number concentrations. Before the eruption, the model captures the observed profiles of lower stratospheric particle number concentrations with radii larger than 5, 150 and 250 nm (N5, N150 and N250) very well. However, in the first 6 months after the eruption, the model shows high bias in N5 concentrations in the lower stratosphere, suggesting too strong nucleation. Following particle growth via condensation and coagulation, this bias in the finest

an aerosol climatology optical properties and its associated direct radiative forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinne, Stefan

2010-05-01

Aerosol particles are quite complex in nature. Aerosol impacts on the distribution of radiative energy and on cloud microphysics have been debated climate impact issues. Here, a new aerosol-climatology is presented, combining the consistency and completeness of global modelling with quality data by ground-monitoring. It provides global monthly maps for spectral aerosol optical properties and for concentrations of CCN and IN. Based on the optical properties the aerosol direct forcing is determined. And with environmental data for clouds and estimates on the anthropogenic fraction from emission experiments with global modelling even the climate relevant aerosol direct forcing at the top of the atmosphere (ToA) is determined. This value is rather small near -0.2W/m2 with limited uncertainty estimated at (+/-0.3) due to uncertainties in aerosol absorption and underlying surface conditions or clouds.

CLouds, and Aerosols Radiative Impacts and Forcing: Year 2016 (CLARIFY-2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haywood, J. M.; Bellouin, N.; Carslaw, K. S.; Coe, H.; Field, P.; Highwood, E. J.; Redemann, J.; Stier, P.; Wood, R.; Zuidema, P.

2013-12-01

Strongly absorbing biomass burning aerosols (BBAs) exist above highly reflectant stratocumulus clouds in the SE Atlantic with implications on the direct (e.g. Haywood et al., 2003), semi-direct (e.g. Johnson et al., 2006), and indirect effect of aerosols, implications on the remote sensing of cloud optical properties, development of clouds and feedback processes. Here, we present an analysis of modelled estimates of the direct effect using twelve models from the AEROCOM project (Myhre et al., 2013) to show that estimates of the direct effect in SE Atlantic range from strongly negative to strongly positive. Furthermore, we evaluate the performance of the HadGEM2 model and show it cannot replicate the extreme values of positive forcing inferred from high spectral resolution satellite retrievals. By examining patterns of deposition, we infer that the indirect effect from biomass burning aerosols is very limited in the model, but without detailed measurements we are unsure of the validity of this inference. We conclude that the SE Atlantic is therefore of key importance in determining the radiative forcing of biomass burning aerosols and provides a very stringent test for global climate models as they need to accurately represent the geographic distribution of the aerosol optical depth, the wavelength dependent aerosol single scattering albedo, the vertical profile of the aerosol, the geographic distribution of the cloud, the cloud fraction, the cloud liquid water content, the cloud droplet effective radii, and the vertical profile of the cloud. These results are used as scientific rationale to justify a new measurement campaign: CLouds and Aerosol Radiative Impacts and Forcing: Year-2016 (CLARIFY-2016). Haywood, J.M., Osborne, S.R. Francis, P.N., Keil, A., Formenti, P., Andreae, M.O., and Kaye, P.H., The mean physical and optical properties of regional haze dominated by biomass burning aerosol measured from the C-130 aircraft during SAFARI 2000, J. Geophys. Res., 108

Aerosol Complexity and Implications for Predictability and Short-Term Forecasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colarco, Peter

2016-01-01

There are clear NWP and climate impacts from including aerosol radiative and cloud interactions. Changes in dynamics and cloud fields affect aerosol lifecycle, plume height, long-range transport, overall forcing of the climate system, etc. Inclusion of aerosols in NWP systems has benefit to surface field biases (e.g., T2m, U10m). Including aerosol affects has impact on analysis increments and can have statistically significant impacts on, e.g., tropical cyclogenesis. Above points are made especially with respect to aerosol radiative interactions, but aerosol-cloud interaction is a bigger signal on the global system. Many of these impacts are realized even in models with relatively simple (bulk) aerosol schemes (approx.10 -20 tracers). Simple schemes though imply simple representation of aerosol absorption and importantly for aerosol-cloud interaction particle-size distribution. Even so, more complex schemes exhibit a lot of diversity between different models, with issues such as size selection both for emitted particles and for modes. Prospects for complex sectional schemes to tune modal (and even bulk) schemes toward better selection of size representation. I think this is a ripe topic for more research -Systematic documentation of benefits of no vs. climatological vs. interactive (direct and then direct+indirect) aerosols. Document aerosol impact on analysis increments, inclusion in NWP data assimilation operator -Further refinement of baseline assumptions in model design (e.g., absorption, particle size distribution). Did not get into model resolution and interplay of other physical processes with aerosols (e.g., moist physics, obviously important), chemistry

Impacts of aerosol mitigation on Chinese rice photosynthesis: An integrated modeling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, T.; Li, T.; Yue, X.; Yang, X.

2017-12-01

Aerosol pollution in China is significantly altering radiative transfer processes and is thereby potentially affecting rice photosynthesis. However, the response of rice photosynthesis to aerosol-induced radiative perturbations is still not well understood. Here, we employ an integrated process-based modeling approach to simulate changes in incoming radiation (RAD) and the diffuse radiation fraction (DF) with aerosol mitigation in China and their associated impacts on rice yields. Aerosol reduction has the positive effect of increasing RAD and the negative effect of decreasing DF on rice photosynthesis and yields. In rice production areas where the average RAD during the growing season is lower than 250 W m-2, aerosol reduction is beneficial for higher rice yields, whereas in areas with RAD>250 W m-2, aerosol mitigation causes yield declines due to the associated reduction in the DF, which decreases the light use efficiency. This response pattern and threshold are similar with observations, even through more data are needed in future investigation. As a net effect, rice yields were estimated to significantly increase by 0.8-2.6% with aerosol concentrations reductions from 20 to 100%, which is lower than the estimates obtained in earlier studies that only considered the effects of RAD. This finding suggests that both RAD and DF are important processes influencing rice yields and should be incorporated into future assessments of agricultural responses to variations in aerosol-induced radiation under climate change.

Using satellites and global models to investigate aerosol-cloud interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gryspeerdt, E.; Quaas, J.; Goren, T.; Sourdeval, O.; Mülmenstädt, J.

2017-12-01

Aerosols are known to impact liquid cloud properties, through both microphysical and radiative processes. Increasing the number concentration of aerosol particles can increase the cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC). Through impacts on precipitation processes, this increase in CDNC may also be able to impact the cloud fraction (CF) and the cloud liquid water path (LWP). Several studies have looked into the effect of aerosols on the CDNC, but as the albedo of a cloudy scene depends much more strongly on LWP and CF, an aerosol influence on these properties could generate a significant radiative forcing. While the impact of aerosols on cloud properties can be seen in case studies involving shiptracks and volcanoes, producing a global estimate of these effects remains challenging due to the confounding effect of local meteorology. For example, relative humidity significantly impacts the aerosol optical depth (AOD), a common satellite proxy for CCN, as well as being a strong control on cloud properties. This can generate relationships between AOD and cloud properties, even when there is no impact of aerosol-cloud interactions. In this work, we look at how aerosol-cloud interactions can be distinguished from the effect of local meteorology in satellite studies. With a combination global climate models and multiple sources of satellite data, we show that the choice of appropriate mediating variables and case studies can be used to develop constraints on the aerosol impact on CF and LWP. This will lead to improved representations of clouds in global climate models and help to reduce the uncertainty in the global impact of anthropogenic aerosols on cloud properties.

Direct and semi-direct effects of aerosol climatologies on long-term climate simulations over Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultze, Markus; Rockel, Burkhardt

2017-08-01

This study compares the direct and semi-direct aerosol effects of different annual cycles of tropospheric aerosol loads for Europe from 1950 to 2009 using the regional climate model COSMO-CLM, which is laterally forced by reanalysis data and run using prescribed, climatological aerosol optical properties. These properties differ with respect to the analysis strategy and the time window, and are then used for the same multi-decadal period. Five simulations with different aerosol loads and one control simulation without any tropospheric aerosols are integrated and compared. Two common limitations of our simulation strategy, to fully assess direct and semi-direct aerosol effects, are the applied observed sea surface temperatures and sea ice conditions, and the lack of short-term variations in the aerosol load. Nevertheless, the impact of different aerosol climatologies on common regional climate model simulations can be assessed. The results of all aerosol-including simulations show a distinct reduction in solar irradiance at the surface compared with that in the control simulation. This reduction is strongest in the summer season and is balanced primarily by a weakening of turbulent heat fluxes and to a lesser extent by a decrease in longwave emissions. Consequently, the seasonal mean surface cooling is modest. The temperature profile responses are characterized by a shallow near-surface cooling and a dominant warming up to the mid-troposphere caused by aerosol absorption. The resulting stabilization of stratification leads to reduced cloud cover and less precipitation. A decrease in cloud water and ice content over Central Europe in summer possibly reinforce aerosol absorption and thus strengthen the vertical warming. The resulting radiative forcings are positive. The robustness of the results was demonstrated by performing a simulation with very strong aerosol forcing, which lead to qualitatively similar results. A distinct added value over the default aerosol

MISR Aerosol Typing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahn, Ralph A.

2014-01-01

AeroCom is an open international initiative of scientists interested in the advancement of the understanding of global aerosol properties and aerosol impacts on climate. A central goal is to more strongly tie and constrain modeling efforts to observational data. A major element for exchanges between data and modeling groups are annual meetings. The meeting was held September 20 through October 2, 1014 and the organizers would like to post the presentations.

Volcano and ship tracks indicate excessive aerosol-induced cloud water increases in a climate model.

PubMed

Toll, Velle; Christensen, Matthew; Gassó, Santiago; Bellouin, Nicolas

2017-12-28

Aerosol-cloud interaction is the most uncertain mechanism of anthropogenic radiative forcing of Earth's climate, and aerosol-induced cloud water changes are particularly poorly constrained in climate models. By combining satellite retrievals of volcano and ship tracks in stratocumulus clouds, we compile a unique observational dataset and confirm that liquid water path (LWP) responses to aerosols are bidirectional, and on average the increases in LWP are closely compensated by the decreases. Moreover, the meteorological parameters controlling the LWP responses are strikingly similar between the volcano and ship tracks. In stark contrast to observations, there are substantial unidirectional increases in LWP in the Hadley Centre climate model, because the model accounts only for the decreased precipitation efficiency and not for the enhanced entrainment drying. If the LWP increases in the model were compensated by the decreases as the observations suggest, its indirect aerosol radiative forcing in stratocumulus regions would decrease by 45%.

Impact of resolution on aerosol radiative feedbacks with in online-coupled chemistry/climate simulations (WRF-Chem) for EURO-CORDEX compliant domains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Romero, Jose Maria; Baró, Rocío; Palacios-Peña, Laura; Jerez, Sonia; Jiménez-Guerrero, Pedro; Montávez, Juan Pedro

2016-04-01

Several studies have shown that a high spatial resolution in atmospheric model runs improves the simulation of some meteorological variables, such as precipitation, particularly extreme events and in regions with complex orography [1]. However, increasing model spatial resolution makes the computational time rise exponentially. Hence, very high resolution experiments on large domains can hamper the execution of climatic runs. This problem shoots up when using online-coupled chemistry climate models, making a careful evaluation of improvements versus costs mandatory. Under this umbrella, the objective of this work is to investigate the sensitivity of aerosol radiative feedbacks from online-coupled chemistry regional model simulations to the spatial resolution. For that, the WRF-Chem [2] model is used for a case study to simulate the episode occurring between July 25th and August 15th of 2010. It is characterized by a high loading of atmospheric aerosol particles coming mainly from wildfires over large European regions (Russia, Iberian Peninsula). Three spatial resolutions are used defined for Euro-Cordex compliant domains [3]: 0.44°, 0.22° and 0.11°. Anthropogenic emissions come from TNO databases [4]. The analysis focuses on air quality variables (mainly PM10, PM2.5), meteorological variables (temperature, radiation) and other aerosol optical properties (aerosol optical depth). The CPU time ratio for the different domains is 1 (0.44°), 4(0.22°) and 28(0.11°) (normalized times). Comparison among simulations and observations are analyzed. Preliminary results show the difficulty to justify the much larger computational cost of high-resolution experiments when comparing with observations from a meteorological point of view, despite the finer spatio-temporal detail of the obtained pollutant fields. [1] Prein, A. F. (2014, December). Precipitation in the EURO-CORDEX 0.11° and 0.44° simulations: high resolution, high benefits?. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol

Aerosol-Induced Changes of Convective Cloud Anvils Produce Strong Climate Warming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koren, I.; Remer, L. A.; Altaratz, O.; Martins, J. V.; Davidi, A.

2010-01-01

The effect of aerosol on clouds poses one of the largest uncertainties in estimating the anthropogenic contribution to climate change. Small human-induced perturbations to cloud characteristics via aerosol pathways can create a change in the top-of-atmosphere radiative forcing of hundreds of Wm(exp-2) . Here we focus on links between aerosol and deep convective clouds of the Atlantic and Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zones, noting that the aerosol environment in each region is entirely different. The tops of these vertically developed clouds consisting of mostly ice can reach high levels of the atmosphere, overshooting the lower stratosphere and reaching altitudes greater than 16 km. We show a link between aerosol, clouds and the free atmosphere wind profile that can change the magnitude and sign of the overall climate radiative forcing. We find that increased aerosol loading is associated with taller cloud towers and anvils. The taller clouds reach levels of enhanced wind speeds that act to spread and thin the anvi1 clouds, increasing areal coverage and decreasing cloud optical depth. The radiative effect of this transition is to create a positive radiative forcing (warming) at top-of-atmosphere. Furthermore we introduce the cloud optical depth (r), cloud height (Z) forcing space and show that underestimation of radiative forcing is likely to occur in cases of non homogenous clouds. Specifically, the mean radiative forcing of towers and anvils in the same scene can be several times greater than simply calculating the forcing from the mean cloud optical depth in the scene. Limitations of the method are discussed, alternative sources of aerosol loading are tested and meteorological variance is restricted, but the trend of taller clouds; increased and thinner anvils associated with increased aerosol loading remains robust through all the different tests and perturbations.

Satellite Remote Sensing and Mesoscale Modeling of Biomass Burning Aerosols over the Southeast Asian Maritime Continent: Climatic Implications of Smokes on Regional Energy Balance, Cloud Formations and Precipitations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, N.

2015-12-01

The influences of anthropogenic aerosols have been suggested as an important reason for climate changes over Southeast Asia (SE Asia, 10°S~20°N and 90°E~135°E). Accurate observations and modelling of aerosols effects on the weather and climate patterns is crucial for a better understanding and mitigation of anthropogenic climate change. This study uses NASA satellite observations along with online-coupled Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to evaluate aerosols impacts on climate over SE Asia. We assess the direct and semi-direct radiative effects of smoke particles over this region during September, 2009 when a significant El Niño event caused the highest biomass burning activity during the last 15 years. Quantification efforts are made to assess how changes of radiative and non radiative parameters (sensible and latent heat) due to smoke aerosols would affect regional climate process such as precipitations, clouds and planetary boundary layer process. Comparison of model simulations for the current land cover conditions against surface meteorological observations and satellite observations of precipitations and cloudiness show satisfactory performance of the model over our study area. In order to quantitatively validate the model results, several experiments will be performed to test the aerosols radiative feedback under different radiation schemes and with/without considering aerosol effects explicitly in the model. Relevant ground-based data (e.g. AERONET), along with aerosol vertical profile data from CALIPSO, will also be applied.

Aerosol, Cloud, and Climate: From Observation to Model (457th Brookhaven Lecture)

ScienceCinema

Wang, Jian [Ph.D., Environmental Sciences Department

2017-12-09

In the last 100 years, the Earth has warmed by about 1ºF, glaciers and sea ice have been melting more quickly than previously, especially during the past decade, and the level of the sea has risen about 6-8 inches worldwide. Scientists have long been investigating this phenomenon of “global warming,” which is believed to be at least partly due to the increased carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the air from burning fossil fuels. Funded by DOE, teams of researchers from BNL and other national labs have been gathering data in the U.S. and internationally to build computer models of climate and weather to help in understanding general patterns, causes, and perhaps, solutions. Among many findings, researchers observed that atmospheric aerosols, minute particles in the atmosphere, can significantly affect global energy balance and climate. Directly, aerosols scatter and absorb sunlight. Indirectly, increased aerosol concentration can lead to smaller cloud droplets, changing clouds in ways that tend to cool global climate and potentially mask overall warming from man-made CO2.

Impact of global climate change on ozone, particulate matter, and secondary organic aerosol concentrations in California: A model perturbation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horne, Jeremy R.; Dabdub, Donald

2017-03-01

Air quality simulations are performed to determine the impact of changes in future climate and emissions on regional air quality in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) of California. The perturbation parameters considered in this study include (1) temperature, (2) absolute humidity, (3) biogenic VOC emissions due to temperature changes, and (4) boundary conditions. All parameters are first perturbed individually. In addition, the impact of simultaneously perturbing more than one parameter is analyzed. Air quality is simulated with meteorology representative of a summertime ozone pollution episode using both a baseline 2005 emissions inventory and a future emissions projection for the year 2023. Different locations within the modeling domain exhibit varying degrees of sensitivity to the perturbations considered. Afternoon domain wide average ozone concentrations are projected to increase by 13-18% as a result of changes in future climate and emissions. Afternoon increases at individual locations range from 10 to 36%. The change in afternoon particulate matter (PM) levels is a strong function of location in the basin, ranging from -7.1% to +4.7% when using 2005 emissions and -8.6% to +1.7% when using 2023 emissions. Afternoon secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations for the entire domain are projected to decrease by over 15%, and the change in SOA levels is not a strong function of the emissions inventory utilized. Temperature increases play the dominant role in determining the overall impact on ozone, PM, and SOA concentrations in both the individual and combined perturbation scenarios.

Impact on short-lived climate forcers increases projected warming due to deforestation.

PubMed

Scott, C E; Monks, S A; Spracklen, D V; Arnold, S R; Forster, P M; Rap, A; Äijälä, M; Artaxo, P; Carslaw, K S; Chipperfield, M P; Ehn, M; Gilardoni, S; Heikkinen, L; Kulmala, M; Petäjä, T; Reddington, C L S; Rizzo, L V; Swietlicki, E; Vignati, E; Wilson, C

2018-01-11

The climate impact of deforestation depends on the relative strength of several biogeochemical and biogeophysical effects. In addition to affecting the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and moisture with the atmosphere and surface albedo, vegetation emits biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) that alter the formation of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), which include aerosol, ozone and methane. Here we show that a scenario of complete global deforestation results in a net positive radiative forcing (RF; 0.12 W m -2 ) from SLCFs, with the negative RF from decreases in ozone and methane concentrations partially offsetting the positive aerosol RF. Combining RFs due to CO 2 , surface albedo and SLCFs suggests that global deforestation could cause 0.8 K warming after 100 years, with SLCFs contributing 8% of the effect. However, deforestation as projected by the RCP8.5 scenario leads to zero net RF from SLCF, primarily due to nonlinearities in the aerosol indirect effect.

Aerosol contribution to the rapid warming of near-term climate under RCP 2.6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chalmers, N.; Highwood, E. J.; Hawkins, E.; Sutton, R.; Wilcox, L. J.

2012-09-01

The importance of aerosol emissions for near term climate projections is investigated by analysing simulations with the HadGEM2-ES model under two different emissions scenarios: RCP2.6 and RCP4.5. It is shown that the near term warming projected under RCP2.6 is greater than under RCP4.5, even though the greenhouse gas forcing is lower. Rapid and substantial reductions in sulphate aerosol emissions due to a reduction of coal burning in RCP2.6 lead to a reduction in the negative shortwave forcing due to aerosol direct and indirect effects. Indirect effects play an important role over the northern hemisphere oceans, especially the subtropical northeastern Pacific where an anomaly of 5-10 Wm-2 develops. The pattern of surface temperature change is consistent with the expected response to this surface radiation anomaly, whilst also exhibiting features that reflect redistribution of energy, and feedbacks, within the climate system. These results demonstrate the importance of aerosol emissions as a key source of uncertainty in near term projections of global and regional climate.

The Variable Climate Impact of Volcanic Eruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graf, H.

2011-12-01

The main effect of big volcanic eruptions in the climate system is due to their efficient transport of condensable gases and their precursors into the stratosphere. There the formation of aerosols leads to effects on atmospheric radiation transfer inducing a reduction of incoming solar radiation by reflection (i.e. cooling of the Earth surface) and absorption of near infrared radiation (i.e. heating) in the aerosol laden layers. In the talk processes determining the climate effect of an eruption will be illustrated by examples, mainly from numerical modelling. The amount of gases released from a magma during an eruption and the efficiency of their transport into very high altitudes depends on the geological setting (magma type) and eruption style. While mid-sized eruption plumes of Plinian style quickly can develop buoyancy by entrainment of ambient air, very large eruptions with high magma flux rates often tend to collapsing plumes and co-ignimbrite style. These cover much bigger areas and are less efficient in entraining ambient air. Vertical transport in these plumes is chaotic and less efficient, leading to lower neutral buoyancy height and less gas and particles reaching high stratospheric altitudes. Explosive energy and amount of released condensable gases are not the only determinants for the climatic effect of an eruption. The effect on shortwave radiation is not linear with the amount of aerosols formed since according to the Lambert-Beer Law atmospheric optical depth reaches a saturation limit with increased absorber concentration. In addition, if more condensable gas is available for aerosol growth, particles become larger and this affects their optical properties to less reflection and more absorption. Larger particles settle out faster, thus reducing the life time of the aerosol disturbance. Especially for big tropical eruptions the strong heating of the stratosphere in low latitudes leads to changes in atmospheric wave propagation by strengthened

Volcano and Ship Tracks Indicate Excessive Aerosol-Induced Cloud Water Increases in a Climate Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toll, Velle; Christensen, Matthew; Gassó, Santiago; Bellouin, Nicolas

2017-12-01

Aerosol-cloud interaction is the most uncertain mechanism of anthropogenic radiative forcing of Earth's climate, and aerosol-induced cloud water changes are particularly poorly constrained in climate models. By combining satellite retrievals of volcano and ship tracks in stratocumulus clouds, we compile a unique observational data set and confirm that liquid water path (LWP) responses to aerosols are bidirectional, and on average the increases in LWP are closely compensated by the decreases. Moreover, the meteorological parameters controlling the LWP responses are strikingly similar between the volcano and ship tracks. In stark contrast to observations, there are substantial unidirectional increases in LWP in the Hadley Centre climate model, because the model accounts only for the decreased precipitation efficiency and not for the enhanced entrainment drying. If the LWP increases in the model were compensated by the decreases as the observations suggest, its indirect aerosol radiative forcing in stratocumulus regions would decrease by 45%.

Biomass-burning Aerosols in South East-Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment(BASE-ASIA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsay, Si-Chee; Hsu, Christina N.; King, Michael D.; Shu, Peter K.

2002-01-01

Biomass burning has been a regular practice for land clearing and land conversion in many countries, especially in Africa, South America, and South East Asia. Significant global sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2, CH4), chemically active gases (e.g., NO, CO, HC, CH3Br), and atmospheric aerosols are produced by biomass-burning processes, which influence the Earth-atmosphere energetics and hence impact both global climate and tropospheric chemistry. Some gases and aerosols can serve as active cloud condensation nuclei, which play important role in determining the net radiation budget, precipitation rate, and cloud lifetime. Biomass burning also affects the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen and carbon compounds from the soil to the atmosphere; the hydrological cycle (i.e., run off and evaporation); the reflectivity and emissivity of the land; and the stability of ecosystems and ecosystem biodiversity. Compared to Africa and South America, the climatology in South East Asia reveals quite different characteristics, showing distinct large-scale smoke and cloud sources and interaction regimes. The fresh water distribution in this region is highly dependent on monsoon rainfall; in fact, the predictability of the tropical climate system is much reduced during the boreal spring, which is associated with the peak season of biomass burning activities. Estimating the burning fuel (e.g., bark, branches, and wood), an important part of studying regional carbon cycle, may rely on utilizing a wide range of distinctive spectral features in the shortwave and longwave regions. Therefore, to accurately assess the impact of smoke aerosols in this region requires continuous observations from satellites, aircraft, networks of ground-based instruments and dedicated field experiments. A new initiative will be proposed and discussed.

An automatic aerosol classification for earlinet: application and results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; Mona, Lucia; Amiridis, Vassilis; Binietoglou, Ioannis; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Guma-Claramunt, P.; Schwarz, Anja; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Amodeo, Aldo; Apituley, Arnoud; Baars, Holger; Bortoli, Daniele; Comeron, Adolfo; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis; Kokkalis, Panos; Nicolae, Doina; Papayannis, Alex; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Wandinger, Ulla; Wiegner, Matthias

2018-04-01

Aerosol typing is essential for understanding the impact of the different aerosol sources on climate, weather system and air quality. An aerosol classification method for EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) measurements is introduced which makes use the Mahalanobis distance classifier. The performance of the automatic classification is tested against manually classified EARLINET data. Results of the application of the method to an extensive aerosol dataset will be presented.

The impact of marine surface organic enrichment on the measured hygroscopicity parameter of laboratory generated sea-spray aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schill, S.; Novak, G.; Zimmermann, K.; Bertram, T. H.

2014-12-01

The ocean serves as a major source for atmospheric aerosol particles, yet the chemicophysical properties of sea spray aerosol to date are not well characterized. Understanding the transfer of organic compounds, present in the sea surface microlayer (SSML), to sea-spray particles and their resulting impact on cloud formation is important for predicting aerosol impact on climate in remote marine environments. Here, we present a series of laboratory experiments designed to probe the fractionation of select organic molecules during wave breaking. We use a representative set of organic mimics (e.g. sterols, sugars, lipids, proteins, fatty acids) to test a recent physically based model of organic enrichment in sea-spray aerosol [Burrows et al., 2014] that is based on Langmuir absorption equilibria. Experiments were conducted in the UCSD Marine Aerosol Reference Tank (MART) permitting accurate representation of wave breaking processes in the laboratory. We report kappa values for the resulting sea-spray aerosols and compare them to a predictions made using Kappa-Köhler Theory driven by a linear combination of the pure component kappa values. Hygroscopicity determinations made using the model systems are discussed within the context of measurements of CCN activity made using natural, coastal water.

Reallocation in modal aerosol models: impacts on predicting aerosol radiative effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korhola, T.; Kokkola, H.; Korhonen, H.; Partanen, A.-I.; Laaksonen, A.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Romakkaniemi, S.

2013-08-01

In atmospheric modelling applications the aerosol particle size distribution is commonly represented by modal approach, in which particles in different size ranges are described with log-normal modes within predetermined size ranges. Such method includes numerical reallocation of particles from a mode to another for example during particle growth, leading to potentially artificial changes in the aerosol size distribution. In this study we analysed how this reallocation affects climatologically relevant parameters: cloud droplet number concentration, aerosol-cloud interaction coefficient and light extinction coefficient. We compared these parameters between a modal model with and without reallocation routines, and a high resolution sectional model that was considered as a reference model. We analysed the relative differences of the parameters in different experiments that were designed to cover a wide range of dynamic aerosol processes occurring in the atmosphere. According to our results, limiting the allowed size ranges of the modes and the following numerical remapping of the distribution by reallocation, leads on average to underestimation of cloud droplet number concentration (up to 100%) and overestimation of light extinction (up to 20%). The analysis of aerosol first indirect effect is more complicated as the ACI parameter can be either over- or underestimated by the reallocating model, depending on the conditions. However, for example in the case of atmospheric new particle formation events followed by rapid particle growth, the reallocation can cause around average 10% overestimation of the ACI parameter. Thus it is shown that the reallocation affects the ability of a model to estimate aerosol climate effects accurately, and this should be taken into account when using and developing aerosol models.

Comparing Aerosol Retrievals from Ground-Based Instruments at the Impact-Pm Field Campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kupinski, M.; Bradley, C. L.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Xu, F.; Diner, D. J.; Clements, C. B.; Camacho, C.

2016-12-01

Detection of aerosol types, components having different size and chemical composition, over urban areas is important for understanding their impact on health and climate. In particular, sustained contact with size-differentiated airborne particulate matter: PM10 and PM2.5 can lead to adverse health effects such as asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases, and premature mortality. Multi-angular polarimetric measurements have been advocated in recent years as an additional tool to better understand and retrieve the aerosol properties needed for improved predictions of aerosol impart on air quality and climate. We deployed the ground-based Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (GroundMSPI) for accurate spectropolarimetric and radiance measurements co-located with the AERONET CIMEL sun photometer and a Halo Doppler 18 m resolution lidar from San José State University at the Garland-Fresno Air Quality supersite in Fresno, CA on July 7 during the Imaging Polarimetric Assessment and Characterization of Tropospheric Particulate Matter (ImPACT-PM) field experiment. GroundMSPI sampled the atmospheric scattering phase function in and 90 degrees out of the principal plane every 15 minutes in an automated manner, utilizing the 2-axis gimbal mount in elevation and azimuth. The goal of this work is verify atmospheric measurement of GroundMSPI with the coincident CIMEL sun photometer and ground-based lidar. Diffuse-sky radiance measurements of GroundMSPI are compared with the CIMEL sun photometer throughout the day. AERONET aerosol parameters such as size, shape, and index of refraction as well as lidar aerosol extinction profiles will be used in a forward radiative transfer model to compare with GroundMSPI observations and optimize these parameters to best match GroundMSPI data.

Impact of anomalous forest fire on aerosol radiative forcing and snow cover over Himalayan region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bali, Kunal; Mishra, Amit Kumar; Singh, Sachchidanand

2017-02-01

Forest fires are very common in tropical region during February-May months and are known to have significant impact on ecosystem dynamics. Moreover, aerosols emitted from these burning activities significantly modulate the Earth's radiation budget. In present study, we investigated the anomalous forest fire events and their impact on atmospheric radiation budget and glaciated snow cover over the Himalayan region. We used multiple dataset derived from satellites [Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO)] and reanalysis models [Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS), Second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Application (MERRA-2) and ERA-interim] to evaluate the effect of biomass burning aerosols on radiation budget. April 2016 is associated with anomalous fire activities over lower Himalayan region in the last fourteen years (2003-2016). The model estimated organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) emission reaches up to ∼3 × 104 and ∼2 × 103 μg/m2/day, respectively during the biomass burning period of April 2016. The meteorological data analysis accompanied with CALIOP aerosol vertical profile shows that these carbonaceous aerosols could reach up to ∼5-7 km altitude and could be transported towards glaciated region of upper Himalayas. The large amount of BC/OC from biomass burning significantly modulates the atmospheric radiation budget. The estimated columnar heating rate shows that these carbonaceous aerosols could heat up the atmosphere by ∼0.04-0.06 K/day in April-2016 with respect to non-burning period (2015). The glaciated snow cover fractions are found to be decreasing by ∼5-20% in 2016 as compared to long term mean (2003-2016). The combined analyses of various climatic factors, fires and associated BC emissions show that the observed snow cover decrease could be results of increased surface/atmospheric temperature due to combined effect of

The relative roles of sulfate aerosols and greenhouse gases in climate forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiehl, J. T.; Briegleb, B. P.

1993-01-01

Calculations of the effects of both natural and anthropogenic tropospheric sulfate aerosols indicate that the aerosol climate forcing is sufficiently large in a number of regions of the Northern Hemisphere to reduce significantly the positive forcing from increased greenhouse gases. Summer sulfate aerosol forcing in the Northern Hemisphere completely offsets the greenhouse forcing over the eastern United States and central Europe. Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols contribute a globally averaged annual forcing of -0.3 watt per square meter as compared with +2.1 watts per square meter for greenhouse gases. Sources of the difference in magnitude with the previous estimate of Charlson et al. (1992) are discussed.

Impact of aerosols on ice crystal size

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Bin; Liou, Kuo-Nan; Gu, Yu; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Li, Qinbin; Fu, Rong; Huang, Lei; Liu, Xiaohong; Shi, Xiangjun; Su, Hui; He, Cenlin

2018-01-01

The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds represent one of the largest uncertainties in global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time to the present. In particular, the impact of aerosols on ice crystal effective radius (Rei), which is a key parameter determining ice clouds' net radiative effect, is highly uncertain due to limited and conflicting observational evidence. Here we investigate the effects of aerosols on Rei under different meteorological conditions using 9-year satellite observations. We find that the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount in conjunction with several other meteorological parameters. While there is a significant negative correlation between Rei and aerosol loading in moist conditions, consistent with the "Twomey effect" for liquid clouds, a strong positive correlation between the two occurs in dry conditions. Simulations based on a cloud parcel model suggest that water vapor modulates the relative importance of different ice nucleation modes, leading to the opposite aerosol impacts between moist and dry conditions. When ice clouds are decomposed into those generated from deep convection and formed in situ, the water vapor modulation remains in effect for both ice cloud types, although the sensitivities of Rei to aerosols differ noticeably between them due to distinct formation mechanisms. The water vapor modulation can largely explain the difference in the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings in various seasons. A proper representation of the water vapor modulation is essential for an accurate estimate of aerosol-cloud radiative forcing produced by ice clouds.

Global environmental effects of impact-generated aerosols: Results from a general circulation model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Covey, Curt; Ghan, Steven J.; Walton, John J.; Weissman, Paul R.

1989-01-01

Interception of sunlight by the high altitude worldwide dust cloud generated by impact of a large asteroid or comet would lead to substantial land surface cooling, according to the three-dimensional atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). This result is qualitatively similar to conclusions drawn from an earlier study that employed a one-dimensional atmospheric model, but in the GCM simulation the heat capacity of the oceans, not included in the one-dimensional model, substantially mitigates land surface cooling. On the other hand, the low heat capacity of the GCM's land surface allows temperatures to drop more rapidly in the initial stages of cooling than in the one-dimensional model study. GCM-simulated climatic changes in the scenario of asteroid/comet winter are more severe than in nuclear winter because the assumed aerosol amount is large enough to intercept all sunlight falling on earth. Impacts of smaller objects could also lead to dramatic, though of course less severe, climatic changes, according to the GCM. An asteroid or comet impact would not lead to anything approaching complete global freezing, but quite reasonable to assume that impacts would dramatically alter the climate in at least a patchy sense.

GCM simulations of volcanic aerosol forcing. I - Climate changes induced by steady-state perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pollack, James B.; Rind, David; Lacis, Andrew; Hansen, James E.; Sato, Makiko; Ruedy, Reto

1993-01-01

The response of the climate system to a temporally and spatially constant amount of volcanic particles is simulated using a general circulation model (GCM). The optical depth of the aerosols is chosen so as to produce approximately the same amount of forcing as results from doubling the present CO2 content of the atmosphere and from the boundary conditions associated with the peak of the last ice age. The climate changes produced by long-term volcanic aerosol forcing are obtained by differencing this simulation and one made for the present climate with no volcanic aerosol forcing. The simulations indicate that a significant cooling of the troposphere and surface can occur at times of closely spaced multiple sulfur-rich volcanic explosions that span time scales of decades to centuries. The steady-state climate response to volcanic forcing includes a large expansion of sea ice, especially in the Southern Hemisphere; a resultant large increase in surface and planetary albedo at high latitudes; and sizable changes in the annually and zonally averaged air temperature.

Identifying robust regional precipitation responses to regional aerosol emissions perturbations in three coupled chemistry-climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westervelt, D. M.; Fiore, A. M.; Lamarque, J. F.; Previdi, M. J.; Conley, A. J.; Shindell, D. T.; Mascioli, N. R.; Correa, G. J. P.; Faluvegi, G.; Horowitz, L. W.

2017-12-01

Regional emissions of anthropogenic aerosols and their precursors will likely decrease for the remainder of the 21st century, due to emission reduction policies enacted to protect human health. Although there is some evidence that regional climate effects of aerosols can be significant, we currently lack a robust understanding of the magnitude, spatio-temporal pattern, statistical significance, and physical processes responsible for these influences, especially for precipitation. Here, we aim to quantify systematically the precipitation response to regional changes in aerosols and investigate underlying mechanisms using three fully coupled chemistry-climate models: NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Coupled Model 3 (GFDL-CM3), NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM), and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE2 (GISS-E2). The central approach we use is to contrast a long control experiment (400 years, run with perpetual year 2000 emissions) with 14 individual aerosol emissions perturbation experiments ( 200 years each). We perturb emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbonaceous aerosol (BC and OM) within several world regions and assess which responses are significant relative to internal variability determined by the control run and robust across the three models. Initial results show significant changes in precipitation in several vulnerable regions including the Western Sahel and the Indian subcontinent. SO2 emissions reductions from Europe and the United States have the largest impact on precipitation among most of the selected response regions. The precipitation response to emissions changes from these regions projects onto known modes of variability, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Across all perturbation experiments, we find a strong linear relationship between the responses of Sahel precipitation and the interhemispheric temperature difference, suggesting a common mechanism of an

The Impact of Geoengineering Aerosols on Stratospheric Temperature and Ozone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heckendorn, P.; Weisenstein, D.; Fueglistaler, S.; Luo, B. P.; Rozanov, E.; Schraner, M.; Peter, T.; Thomason, L. W.

2009-01-01

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are warming the global climate at an unprecedented rate. Significant emission reductions will be required soon to avoid a rapid temperature rise. As a potential interim measure to avoid extreme temperature increase, it has been suggested that Earth's albedo be increased by artificially enhancing stratospheric sulfate aerosols. We use a 3D chemistry climate model, fed by aerosol size distributions from a zonal mean aerosol model, to simulate continuous injection of 1-10 Mt/a into the lower tropical stratosphere. In contrast to the case for all previous work, the particles are predicted to grow to larger sizes than are observed after volcanic eruptions. The reason is the continuous supply of sulfuric acid and hence freshly formed small aerosol particles, which enhance the formation of large aerosol particles by coagulation and, to a lesser extent, by condensation. Owing to their large size, these particles have a reduced albedo. Furthermore, their sedimentation results in a non-linear relationship between stratospheric aerosol burden and annual injection, leading to a reduction of the targeted cooling. More importantly, the sedimenting particles heat the tropical cold point tropopause and, hence, the stratospheric entry mixing ratio of H2O increases. Therefore, geoengineering by means of sulfate aerosols is predicted to accelerate the hydroxyl catalyzed ozone destruction cycles and cause a significant depletion of the ozone layer even though future halogen concentrations will be significantly reduced.

The Impact of Geoengineering Aerosols on Stratospheric Temperature and Ozone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heckendorn, P.; Weisenstein, D.; Fueglistaler, S.; Luo, B. P.; Rozanov, E.; Schraner, M.; Thomason, L. W.; Peter, T.

2011-01-01

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are warming the global climate at an unprecedented rate. Significant emission reductions will be required soon to avoid a rapid temperature rise. As a potential interim measure to avoid extreme temperature increase, it has been suggested that Earth's albedo be increased by artificially enhancing stratospheric sulfate aerosols. We use a 3D chemistry climate model, fed by aerosol size distributions from a zonal mean aerosol model. to simulate continuous injection of 1-10 Mt/a into the lower tropical stratosphere. In contrast to the case for all previous work, the particles are predicted to grow to larger sizes than are observed after volcanic eruptions. The reason is the continuous supply of sulfuric acid and hence freshly formed small aerosol particles, which enhance the formation of large aerosol particles by coagulation and, to a lesser extent, by condensation. Owing to their large size, these particles have a reduced albedo. Furthermore, their sedimentation results in a non-linear relationship between stratospheric aerosol burden and annual injection, leading to a reduction of the targeted cooling. More importantly, the sedimenting particles heat the tropical cold point tropopause and, hence, the stratospheric entry mixing ratio of H2O increases. Therefore, geoengineering by means of sulfate aerosols is predicted to accelerate the hydroxyl catalyzed ozone destruction cycles and cause a significant depletion of the ozone layer even though future halogen concentrations will he significantly reduced.

Aerosol effect on climate extremes in Europe under different future scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sillmann, J.; Pozzoli, L.; Vignati, E.; Kloster, S.; Feichter, J.

2013-05-01

This study investigates changes in extreme temperature and precipitation events under different future scenarios of anthropogenic aerosol emissions (i.e., SO2 and black and organic carbon) simulated with an aerosol-climate model (ECHAM5-HAM) with focus on Europe. The simulations include a maximum feasible aerosol reduction (MFR) scenario and a current legislation emission (CLEmod) scenario where Europe implements the MFR scenario, but the rest of the world follows the current legislation scenario and a greenhouse gas scenario. The strongest changes relative to the year 2000 are projected for the MFR scenario, in which the global aerosol reduction greatly enforces the general warming effect due to greenhouse gases and results in significant increases of temperature and precipitation extremes in Europe. Regional warming effects can also be identified from aerosol reductions under the CLEmodscenario. This becomes most obvious in the increase of the hottest summer daytime temperatures in Northern Europe.

Remote Sensing of Aerosol in the Terrestrial Atmosphere from Space: New Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Milinevsky, G.; Yatskiv, Ya.; Degtyaryov, O.; Syniavskyi, I.; Ivanov, Yu.; Bovchaliuk, A.; Mishchenko, M.; Danylevsky, V.; Sosonkin, M.; Bovchaliuk, V.

2015-01-01

The distribution and properties of atmospheric aerosols on a global scale are not well known in terms of determination of their effects on climate. This mostly is due to extreme variability of aerosol concentrations, properties, sources, and types. Aerosol climate impact is comparable to the effect of greenhouse gases, but its influence is more difficult to measure, especially with respect to aerosol microphysical properties and the evaluation of anthropogenic aerosol effect. There are many satellite missions studying aerosol distribution in the terrestrial atmosphere, such as MISR/Terra, OMI/Aura, AVHHR, MODIS/Terra and Aqua, CALIOP/CALIPSO. To improve the quality of data and climate models, and to reduce aerosol climate forcing uncertainties, several new missions are planned. The gap in orbital instruments for studying aerosol microphysics has arisen after the Glory mission failed during launch in 2011. In this review paper, we describe several planned aerosol space missions, including the Ukrainian project Aerosol-UA that obtains data using a multi-channel scanning polarimeter and wide-angle polarimetric camera. The project is designed for remote sensing of the aerosol microphysics and cloud properties on a global scale.

Dangerous Climate Velocities from Geoengineering Termination: Potential Biodiversity Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trisos, C.; Gurevitch, J.; Zambri, B.; Xia, L.; Amatulli, G.; Robock, A.

2016-12-01

Geoengineering has been suggested as a potential societal response to the impacts of ongoing global warming. If ongoing mitigation and adaptation measures do not prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change, it is important to study whether solar radiation management would make the world less dangerous. While impacts of albedo modification on temperature, precipitation, and agriculture have been studied before, here for the first time we investigate its potential ecological impacts. We estimate the speeds marine and terrestrial ecosystems will need to move to remain in their current climate conditions (i.e., climate velocities) in response to the implementation and subsequent termination of geoengineering. We take advantage of climate model simulations conducted using the G4 scenario of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project, in which increased radiative forcing from the RCP4.5 scenario is balanced by a stratospheric aerosol cloud produced by an injection of 5 Tg of SO2 per year into the lower stratosphere for 50 years, and then stopped. The termination of geoengineering is projected to produce a very rapid warming of the climate, resulting in climate velocities much faster than those that will be produced from anthropogenic global warming. Should ongoing geoengineering be terminated abruptly due to society losing the means or will to continue, the resulting ecological impacts, as measured by climate velocities, could be severe for many terrestrial and marine biodiversity hotspots. Thus, the implementation of solar geoengineering represents a potential danger not just to humans, but also to biodiversity globally.

The global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM, version 2: sensitivity to improvements in process representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; O'Donnell, D.; Kazil, J.; Stier, P.; Kinne, S.; Lohmann, U.; Ferrachat, S.; Croft, B.; Quaas, J.; Wan, H.; Rast, S.; Feichter, J.

2012-10-01

This paper introduces and evaluates the second version of the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM. Major changes have been brought into the model, including new parameterizations for aerosol nucleation and water uptake, an explicit treatment of secondary organic aerosols, modified emission calculations for sea salt and mineral dust, the coupling of aerosol microphysics to a two-moment stratiform cloud microphysics scheme, and alternative wet scavenging parameterizations. These revisions extend the model's capability to represent details of the aerosol lifecycle and its interaction with climate. Nudged simulations of the year 2000 are carried out to compare the aerosol properties and global distribution in HAM1 and HAM2, and to evaluate them against various observations. Sensitivity experiments are performed to help identify the impact of each individual update in model formulation. Results indicate that from HAM1 to HAM2 there is a marked weakening of aerosol water uptake in the lower troposphere, reducing the total aerosol water burden from 75 Tg to 51 Tg. The main reason is the newly introduced κ-Köhler-theory-based water uptake scheme uses a lower value for the maximum relative humidity cutoff. Particulate organic matter loading in HAM2 is considerably higher in the upper troposphere, because the explicit treatment of secondary organic aerosols allows highly volatile oxidation products of the precursors to be vertically transported to regions of very low temperature and to form aerosols there. Sulfate, black carbon, particulate organic matter and mineral dust in HAM2 have longer lifetimes than in HAM1 because of weaker in-cloud scavenging, which is in turn related to lower autoconversion efficiency in the newly introduced two-moment cloud microphysics scheme. Modification in the sea salt emission scheme causes a significant increase in the ratio (from 1.6 to 7.7) between accumulation mode and coarse mode emission fluxes of aerosol number concentration. This

Improving Aerosol Simulation over South Asia for Climate and Air Quality Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pan, Xiaohua; Chin, Mian; Bian, Huisheng; Gautam, Ritesh

2014-01-01

Atmospheric pollution over South Asia attracts special attention due to its effects on regional climate, the water cycle, and human health. These effects are potentially growing owing to rising trends of anthropogenic aerosol emissions found there. However, it has been proved quite challenging to adequately represent the aerosol spatial distribution and magnitude over this critical region in global models (Pan et al. 2014), with the surface concentrations, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and absorbing AOD (AAOD) significantly underestimated, especially in October-January when the agricultural waste burning and anthropogenic aerosol dominate over dust aerosol. In this study, we aim to investigate the causes for such discrepancy in winter by conducting sets of model experiments with NASA's GEOS-5 in terms of (1) spatial resolution, (2) emission amount, and (3) meteorological fields.

Black Carbon and Sulfate Aerosols in the Arctic: Long-term Trends, Radiative Impacts, and Source Attributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, H.; Zhang, R.; Yang, Y.; Smith, S.; Rasch, P. J.

2017-12-01

The Arctic has warmed dramatically in recent decades. As one of the important short-lived climate forcers, aerosols affect the Arctic radiative budget directly by interfering radiation and indirectly by modifying clouds. Light-absorbing particles (e.g., black carbon) in snow/ice can reduce the surface albedo. The direct radiative impact of aerosols on the Arctic climate can be either warming or cooling, depending on their composition and location, which can further alter the poleward heat transport. Anthropogenic emissions, especially, BC and SO2, have changed drastically in low/mid-latitude source regions in the past few decades. Arctic surface observations at some locations show that BC and sulfate aerosols had a decreasing trend in the recent decades. In order to understand the impact of long-term emission changes on aerosols and their radiative effects, we use the Community Earth System Model (CESM) equipped with an explicit BC and sulfur source-tagging technique to quantify the source-receptor relationships and decadal trends of Arctic sulfate and BC and to identify variations in their atmospheric transport pathways from lower latitudes. The simulation was conducted for 36 years (1979-2014) with prescribed sea surface temperatures and sea ice concentrations. To minimize potential biases in modeled large-scale circulations, wind fields in the simulation are nudged toward an atmospheric reanalysis dataset, while atmospheric constituents including water vapor, clouds, and aerosols are allowed to evolve according to the model physics. Both anthropogenic and open fire emissions came from the newly released CMIP6 datasets, which show strong regional trends in BC and SO2 emissions during the simulation time period. Results show that emissions from East Asia and South Asia together have the largest contributions to Arctic sulfate and BC concentrations in the upper troposphere, which have an increasing trend. The strong decrease in emissions from Europe, Russia and

Climate impacts of shipping and petroleum extraction in an unlocked Arctic ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samset, B. H.; Berntsen, T.; Dahlsøren, S. B.; Eide, L. I.; Eide, M. S.; Fuglestvedt, J.; Glomsrød, S.; Lindholt, L.; Myhre, G.; Nilssen, T. B.; Peters, G. P.; Ødemark, K.

2012-04-01

Reductions in sea ice extent are expected to open up the Arctic region to increased volumes of ship traffic and petroleum extraction activities. Both of these potentially entail changes in concentrations of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) such as aerosols and ozone, which may impact the future climate. The response of the Arctic to SLCF emissions is however not well constrained, as the annual cycle, solar irradiation, surface albedo and ambient temperature are special to this region. The present study investigates the effects of SLCF emissions in the Arctic in 2004, as well as in 2030 and 2050. An emission inventory is used for present day activities, while future emissions are taken from models of the global energy market and shipping fleet. Atmospheric concentrations are input to the OsloCTM2 chemical transport model, and radiative forcings (RFs) are calculated using a multi-stream radiation transport code. Climate impacts are quantified via RFs and Global Warming Potentials of the various emitted components, in addition to estimates of the first indirect aerosol effect and the snow albedo effect from black carbon (BC). For present day emissions we calculate a net negative RF from shipping, mainly driven by the indirect aerosol effect, and a net positive RF from petroleum extraction, mainly due to the BC snow albedo effect. For future emissions the general results remain similar, but the total RFs develop with changes in emission volume and composition. We discuss the sensitivity of the Arctic region to emissions in terms of normalized RFs as function of season and geographical location.

Climate and health impacts of clean cookstove implementation programs in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacey, F.; Marais, E. A.; Wiedinmyer, C.; Coffey, E.; Muvandimwe, D.; Hannigan, M.; Henze, D. K.

2016-12-01

In Africa, 77% of the population (646 million people in 2010) use solid fuels as the main cooking source. These cooking methods are often inefficient and result in significant burdens to both climate and human health, particularly for women and children. In order to fully understand the impacts of clean cookstove implementation programs, a better understanding of the background concentrations of aerosols, aerosol precursors, and ozone precursors are needed, along with improved information on the changes in emissions from transitions to newer technologies. Through the use of the GEOS-Chem adjoint model, we have calculated species-specific climate and health sensitivities using a range of African emissions estimates including EDGAR-HTAP and a more recent improved emissions inventory, DICE-Africa. These sensitivities account for the spatial heterogeneity of emissions with respect to their impacts and allow for efficient estimation of the impacts of various clean cookstove implementation emissions scenarios that are based on laboratory and field measurements of emissions factors, along with realistic adoption and usage rates from field surveys. The resulting estimates of premature deaths and global surface temperature change are then aggregated to the national scale in order to provide policy makers with improved information regarding the implementation of clean cookstoves throughout continental Africa.

Direct Aerosol Radiative Forcing Based on Combined A-Train Observations: Towards All-sky Estimates and Attribution to Aerosol Type

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redemann, Jens; Shinozuka, Y.; Kacenelenbogen, M.; Russell, P.; Vaughan, M.; Ferrare, R.; Hostetler, C.; Rogers, R.; Burton, S.; Livingston, J.;

On the representation of aerosol activation and its influence on model-derived estimates of the aerosol indirect effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rothenberg, Daniel; Avramov, Alexander; Wang, Chien

2018-06-01

Interactions between aerosol particles and clouds contribute a great deal of uncertainty to the scientific community's understanding of anthropogenic climate forcing. Aerosol particles serve as the nucleation sites for cloud droplets, establishing a direct linkage between anthropogenic particulate emissions and clouds in the climate system. To resolve this linkage, the community has developed parameterizations of aerosol activation which can be used in global climate models to interactively predict cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs). However, different activation schemes can exhibit different sensitivities to aerosol perturbations in different meteorological or pollution regimes. To assess the impact these different sensitivities have on climate forcing, we have coupled three different core activation schemes and variants with the CESM-MARC (two-Moment, Multi-Modal, Mixing-state-resolving Aerosol model for Research of Climate (MARC) coupled with the National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCAR) Community Earth System Model (CESM; version 1.2)). Although the model produces a reasonable present-day CDNC climatology when compared with observations regardless of the scheme used, ΔCDNCs between the present and preindustrial era regionally increase by over 100 % in zonal mean when using the most sensitive parameterization. These differences in activation sensitivity may lead to a different evolution of the model meteorology, and ultimately to a spread of over 0.8 W m-2 in global average shortwave indirect effect (AIE) diagnosed from the model, a range which is as large as the inter-model spread from the AeroCom intercomparison. Model-derived AIE strongly scales with the simulated preindustrial CDNC burden, and those models with the greatest preindustrial CDNC tend to have the smallest AIE, regardless of their ΔCDNC. This suggests that present-day evaluations of aerosol-climate models may not provide useful constraints on the magnitude of the AIE, which

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I - Overview and Impact of Elevated Aerosol Layers on Aerosol Optical Depth

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.

2016-01-08

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), which was conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique field study that was designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere at a number of altitudes, from near the surface to as high as 8 km, within two atmospheric columns; one located near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second over the Atlantic Ocean several hundredmore » kilometers from the coast. TCAP included the yearlong deployment of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) that was located at the base of the Cape Cod column, as well as summer and winter aircraft intensive observation periods of the ARM Aerial Facility. One important finding from TCAP is the relatively common occurrence (on four of six nearly cloud-free flights) of elevated aerosol layers in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). These layers contributed up to 60% of the total aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed in the column. Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning aerosol and nitrate compared to the aerosol found near the surface.« less

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I-Overview and impact of elevated aerosol layers on aerosol optical depth

DOE PAGES

Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; ...

2016-01-08

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facilitymore » (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). In addition, these layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. Lastly, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.« less

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I - Overview and Impact of Elevated Aerosol Layers on Aerosol Optical Depth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; Burton, Sharon P.; Cairns, Brian; Chand, Duli; Comstock, Jennifer M.; Dunagan, Stephen; Ferrare, Richard A.; Flynn, Connor J.;

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I—Overview and impact of elevated aerosol layers on aerosol optical depth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; Burton, Sharon P.; Cairns, Brian; Chand, Duli; Comstock, Jennifer M.; Dunagan, Stephen; Ferrare, Richard A.; Flynn, Connor J.; Hair, Johnathan W.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Hubbe, John; Jefferson, Anne; Johnson, Roy; Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Kluzek, Celine D.; Kollias, Pavlos; Lamer, Katia; Lantz, Kathleen; Mei, Fan; Miller, Mark A.; Michalsky, Joseph; Ortega, Ivan; Pekour, Mikhail; Rogers, Ray R.; Russell, Philip B.; Redemann, Jens; Sedlacek, Arthur J.; Segal-Rosenheimer, Michal; Schmid, Beat; Shilling, John E.; Shinozuka, Yohei; Springston, Stephen R.; Tomlinson, Jason M.; Tyrrell, Megan; Wilson, Jacqueline M.; Volkamer, Rainer; Zelenyuk, Alla; Berkowitz, Carl M.

2016-01-01

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). These layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. In addition, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.

Constraining Carbonaceous Aerosol Climate Forcing by Bridging Laboratory, Field and Modeling Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubey, M. K.; Aiken, A. C.; Liu, S.; Saleh, R.; Cappa, C. D.; Williams, L. R.; Donahue, N. M.; Gorkowski, K.; Ng, N. L.; Mazzoleni, C.; China, S.; Sharma, N.; Yokelson, R. J.; Allan, J. D.; Liu, D.

2014-12-01

Biomass and fossil fuel combustion emits black (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) aerosols that absorb sunlight to warm climate and organic carbon (OC) aerosols that scatter sunlight to cool climate. The net forcing depends strongly on the composition, mixing state and transformations of these carbonaceous aerosols. Complexities from large variability of fuel types, combustion conditions and aging processes have confounded their treatment in models. We analyse recent laboratory and field measurements to uncover fundamental mechanism that control the chemical, optical and microphysical properties of carbonaceous aerosols that are elaborated below: Wavelength dependence of absorption and the single scattering albedo (ω) of fresh biomass burning aerosols produced from many fuels during FLAME-4 was analysed to determine the factors that control the variability in ω. Results show that ω varies strongly with fire-integrated modified combustion efficiency (MCEFI)—higher MCEFI results in lower ω values and greater spectral dependence of ω (Liu et al GRL 2014). A parameterization of ω as a function of MCEFI for fresh BB aerosols is derived from the laboratory data and is evaluated by field data, including BBOP. Our laboratory studies also demonstrate that BrC production correlates with BC indicating that that they are produced by a common mechanism that is driven by MCEFI (Saleh et al NGeo 2014). We show that BrC absorption is concentrated in the extremely low volatility component that favours long-range transport. We observe substantial absorption enhancement for internally mixed BC from diesel and wood combustion near London during ClearFlo. While the absorption enhancement is due to BC particles coated by co-emitted OC in urban regions, it increases with photochemical age in rural areas and is simulated by core-shell models. We measure BrC absorption that is concentrated in the extremely low volatility components and attribute it to wood burning. Our results support

Regional Warming from Aerosol Removal over the United States: Results from a Transient 2010-2050 Climate Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mickley, L. J.; Leibensperger, E. M.; Jacob, D. J.; Rind, D.

2012-01-01

We use a general circulation model (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies GCM 3) to investigate the regional climate response to removal of aerosols over the United States. We perform a pair of transient 2010e2050 climate simulations following a scenario of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, with and without aerosols over the United States and with present-day aerosols elsewhere. We find that removing U.S. aerosol significantly enhances the warming from greenhouse gases in a spatial pattern that strongly correlates with that of the aerosol. Warming is nearly negligible outside the United States, but annual mean surface temperatures increase by 0.4e0.6 K in the eastern United States. Temperatures during summer heat waves in the Northeast rise by as much as 1e2 K due to aerosol removal, driven in part by positive feedbacks involving soil moisture and low cloud cover. Reducing U.S. aerosol sources to achieve air quality objectives could thus have significant unintended regional warming consequences.

Sulfate Aerosol Control of Tropical Atlantic Climate over the Twentieth Century

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, C.-Y.; Chiang, J. C. H.; Wehner, M. F.; Friedman, A. R.; Ruedy, R.

2011-01-01

The tropical Atlantic interhemispheric gradient in sea surface temperature significantly influences the rainfall climate of the tropical Atlantic sector, including droughts over West Africa and Northeast Brazil. This gradient exhibits a secular trend from the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1980s, with stronger warming in the south relative to the north. This trend behavior is on top of a multi-decadal variation associated with the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation. A similar long-term forced trend is found in a multimodel ensemble of forced twentieth-century climate simulations. Through examining the distribution of the trend slopes in the multimodel twentieth-century and preindustrial models, the authors conclude that the observed trend in the gradient is unlikely to arise purely from natural variations; this study suggests that at least half the observed trend is a forced response to twentieth-century climate forcings. Further analysis using twentieth-century single-forcing runs indicates that sulfate aerosol forcing is the predominant cause of the multimodel trend. The authors conclude that anthropogenic sulfate aerosol emissions, originating predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere, may have significantly altered the tropical Atlantic rainfall climate over the twentieth century

Impact of preindustrial to present-day changes in short-lived pollutant emissions on atmospheric composition and climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naik, Vaishali; Horowitz, Larry W.; Fiore, Arlene M.; Ginoux, Paul; Mao, Jingqiu; Aghedo, Adetutu M.; Levy, Hiram

2013-07-01

We describe and evaluate atmospheric chemistry in the newly developed Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory chemistry-climate model (GFDL AM3) and apply it to investigate the net impact of preindustrial (PI) to present (PD) changes in short-lived pollutant emissions (ozone precursors, sulfur dioxide, and carbonaceous aerosols) and methane concentration on atmospheric composition and climate forcing. The inclusion of online troposphere-stratosphere interactions, gas-aerosol chemistry, and aerosol-cloud interactions (including direct and indirect aerosol radiative effects) in AM3 enables a more complete representation of interactions among short-lived species, and thus their net climate impact, than was considered in previous climate assessments. The base AM3 simulation, driven with observed sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice cover (SIC) over the period 1981-2007, generally reproduces the observed mean magnitude, spatial distribution, and seasonal cycle of tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide. The global mean aerosol optical depth in our base simulation is within 5% of satellite measurements over the 1982-2006 time period. We conduct a pair of simulations in which only the short-lived pollutant emissions and methane concentrations are changed from PI (1860) to PD (2000) levels (i.e., SST, SIC, greenhouse gases, and ozone-depleting substances are held at PD levels). From the PI to PD, we find that changes in short-lived pollutant emissions and methane have caused the tropospheric ozone burden to increase by 39% and the global burdens of sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon to increase by factors of 3, 2.4, and 1.4, respectively. Tropospheric hydroxyl concentration decreases by 7%, showing that increases in OH sinks (methane, carbon monoxide, nonmethane volatile organic compounds, and sulfur dioxide) dominate over sources (ozone and nitrogen oxides) in the model. Combined changes in tropospheric ozone and aerosols cause a net negative top

Asian aerosols: current and year 2030 distributions and implications to human health and regional climate change.

PubMed

Carmichael, Gregory R; Adhikary, Bhupesh; Kulkarni, Sarika; D'Allura, Alessio; Tang, Youhua; Streets, David; Zhang, Qiang; Bond, Tami C; Ramanathan, Veerabhadran; Jamroensan, Aditsuda; Marrapu, Pallavi

2009-08-01

Aerosol distributions in Asia calculated over a 4-year period and constrained by satellite observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) are presented. Vast regions in Asia that include > 80% of the population have PM2.5 concentrations that exceed on an annual basis the WHO guideline of 10 microg/m3, often by factors of 2 to 4. These high aerosol loadings also have important radiative effects, causing a significant dimming at the surface, and mask approximately 45% of the warming by greenhouse gases. Black carbon (BC) concentrations are high throughout Asia, representing 5-10% of the total AOD, and contributing significantly to atmospheric warming (its warming potential is approximately 55% of that due to CO2). PM levels and AODs in year 2030, estimated based on simulations that consider future changes in emissions, are used to explore opportunities for win-win strategies built upon addressing air quality and climate change together. It is found that in 2030 the PM2.5 levels in significant parts of Asia will increase and exacerbate health impacts; but the aerosols will have a larger masking effect on radiative forcing, due to a decrease in BC and an increase in SO2 emissions.

Aerosol impacts on regional trends in atmospheric stagnation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mascioli, N. R.; Fiore, A. M.; Previdi, M. J.

2017-12-01

Extreme pollution events pose a significant threat to human health and are a leading cause of premature mortality worldwide. While emissions of atmospheric pollutants and their precursors are projected to decrease in the future due to air quality legislation, future climate change may affect the underlying meteorological conditions that contribute to extreme pollution events. Stagnation events, characterized by weak winds and an absence of precipitation, contribute to extreme pollution by halting the removal of pollutants via advection and wet deposition. Here, we use a global climate model (GFDL-CM3) to show that regional stagnation trends over the historical period (1860-2005) are driven by changes in anthropogenic aerosol emissions, rather than rising greenhouse gases. In the northeastern and central United States, aerosol-induced changes in surface and upper level winds have produced significant decreases in the number of stagnant summer days, while decreasing precipitation in the southeast US has increased the number of stagnant summer days. Significant drying over eastern China in response to aerosol forcing contributed to increased stagnation. Additionally, this region was found to be particularly sensitive to changes in local emissions, indicating that improving air quality will also lessen stagnation. In Europe, we find a dipole pattern wherein stagnation decreases over southern Europe and increases over northern Europe in response to global increases in aerosol emissions. We hypothesize that this is due to changes in the large-scale circulation patterns associated with a poleward shift of the North Atlantic storm track. We find that in the future, the combination of declining aerosol emissions and the continued rise of greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a reversal of the historical stagnation trends.

Assessing the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on Pacific storm track using a multiscale global climate model.

PubMed

Wang, Yuan; Wang, Minghuai; Zhang, Renyi; Ghan, Steven J; Lin, Yun; Hu, Jiaxi; Pan, Bowen; Levy, Misti; Jiang, Jonathan H; Molina, Mario J

2014-05-13

Atmospheric aerosols affect weather and global general circulation by modifying cloud and precipitation processes, but the magnitude of cloud adjustment by aerosols remains poorly quantified and represents the largest uncertainty in estimated forcing of climate change. Here we assess the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on the Pacific storm track, using a multiscale global aerosol-climate model (GCM). Simulations of two aerosol scenarios corresponding to the present day and preindustrial conditions reveal long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols across the north Pacific and large resulting changes in the aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud and ice water paths. Shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere are changed by -2.5 and +1.3 W m(-2), respectively, by emission changes from preindustrial to present day, and an increased cloud top height indicates invigorated midlatitude cyclones. The overall increased precipitation and poleward heat transport reflect intensification of the Pacific storm track by anthropogenic aerosols. Hence, this work provides, for the first time to the authors' knowledge, a global perspective of the effects of Asian pollution outflows from GCMs. Furthermore, our results suggest that the multiscale modeling framework is essential in producing the aerosol invigoration effect of deep convective clouds on a global scale.

Numerical simulations of Asian dust storms using a coupled climate-aerosol microphysical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Lin; Toon, Owen B.

2009-07-01

We have developed a three-dimensional coupled microphysical/climate model based on the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmospheres Model and the University of Colorado/NASA Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres. We have used the model to investigate the sources, removal processes, transport, and optical properties of Asian dust aerosol and its impact on downwind regions. The model simulations are conducted primarily during the time frame of the Aerosol Characterization Experiment-Asia field experiment (March-May 2001) since considerable in situ data are available at that time. Our dust source function follows Ginoux et al. (2001). We modified the dust source function by using the friction velocity instead of the 10-m wind based on wind erosion theory, by adding a size-dependent threshold friction velocity following Marticorena and Bergametti (1995) and by adding a soil moisture correction. A Weibull distribution is implemented to estimate the subgrid-scale wind speed variability. We use eight size bins for mineral dust ranging from 0.1 to 10 μm radius. Generally, the model reproduced the aerosol optical depth retrieved by the ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun photometers at six study sites ranging in location from near the Asian dust sources to the Eastern Pacific region. By constraining the dust complex refractive index from AERONET retrievals near the dust source, we also find the single-scattering albedo to be consistent with AERONET retrievals. However, large regional variations are observed due to local pollution. The timing of dust events is comparable to the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) lidar data in Beijing and Nagasaki. However, the simulated dust aerosols are at higher altitudes than those observed by the NIES lidar.

Aerosol climate time series from ESA Aerosol_cci (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzer-Popp, T.

2013-12-01

Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) the Aerosol_cci project (mid 2010 - mid 2013, phase 2 proposed 2014-2016) has conducted intensive work to improve algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol information from European sensors AATSR (3 algorithms), PARASOL, MERIS (3 algorithms), synergetic AATSR/SCIAMACHY, OMI and GOMOS. Whereas OMI and GOMOS were used to derive absorbing aerosol index and stratospheric extinction profiles, respectively, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Angstrom coefficient were retrieved from the other sensors. Global datasets for 2008 were produced and validated versus independent ground-based data and other satellite data sets (MODIS, MISR). An additional 17-year dataset is currently generated using ATSR-2/AATSR data. During the three years of the project, intensive collaborative efforts were made to improve the retrieval algorithms focusing on the most critical modules. The team agreed on the use of a common definition for the aerosol optical properties. Cloud masking was evaluated, but a rigorous analysis with a pre-scribed cloud mask did not lead to improvement for all algorithms. Better results were obtained using a post-processing step in which sudden transitions, indicative of possible occurrence of cloud contamination, were removed. Surface parameterization, which is most critical for the nadir only algorithms (MERIS and synergetic AATSR / SCIAMACHY) was studied to a limited extent. The retrieval results for AOD, Ångström exponent (AE) and uncertainties were evaluated by comparison with data from AERONET (and a limited amount of MAN) sun photometer and with satellite data available from MODIS and MISR. Both level2 and level3 (gridded daily) datasets were validated. Several validation metrics were used (standard statistical quantities such as bias, rmse, Pearson correlation, linear regression, as well as scoring approaches to quantitatively evaluate the spatial and temporal correlations against AERONET), and in some cases

Photophoretic levitation of engineered aerosols for geoengineering

PubMed Central

Keith, David W.

2010-01-01

Aerosols could be injected into the upper atmosphere to engineer the climate by scattering incident sunlight so as to produce a cooling tendency that may mitigate the risks posed by the accumulation of greenhouse gases. Analysis of climate engineering has focused on sulfate aerosols. Here I examine the possibility that engineered nanoparticles could exploit photophoretic forces, enabling more control over particle distribution and lifetime than is possible with sulfates, perhaps allowing climate engineering to be accomplished with fewer side effects. The use of electrostatic or magnetic materials enables a class of photophoretic forces not found in nature. Photophoretic levitation could loft particles above the stratosphere, reducing their capacity to interfere with ozone chemistry; and, by increasing particle lifetimes, it would reduce the need for continual replenishment of the aerosol. Moreover, particles might be engineered to drift poleward enabling albedo modification to be tailored to counter polar warming while minimizing the impact on equatorial climates. PMID:20823254

Photophoretic levitation of engineered aerosols for geoengineering.

PubMed

Keith, David W

2010-09-21

Aerosols could be injected into the upper atmosphere to engineer the climate by scattering incident sunlight so as to produce a cooling tendency that may mitigate the risks posed by the accumulation of greenhouse gases. Analysis of climate engineering has focused on sulfate aerosols. Here I examine the possibility that engineered nanoparticles could exploit photophoretic forces, enabling more control over particle distribution and lifetime than is possible with sulfates, perhaps allowing climate engineering to be accomplished with fewer side effects. The use of electrostatic or magnetic materials enables a class of photophoretic forces not found in nature. Photophoretic levitation could loft particles above the stratosphere, reducing their capacity to interfere with ozone chemistry; and, by increasing particle lifetimes, it would reduce the need for continual replenishment of the aerosol. Moreover, particles might be engineered to drift poleward enabling albedo modification to be tailored to counter polar warming while minimizing the impact on equatorial climates.

Land cover maps, BVOC emissions, and SOA burden in a global aerosol-climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanelle, Tanja; Henrot, Alexandra; Bey, Isaelle

2015-04-01

It has been reported that different land cover representations influence the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) (e.g. Guenther et al., 2006). But the land cover forcing used in model simulations is quite uncertain (e.g. Jung et al., 2006). As a consequence the simulated emission of BVOCs depends on the applied land cover map. To test the sensitivity of global and regional estimates of BVOC emissions on the applied land cover map we applied 3 different land cover maps into our global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6-HAM2.2. We found a high sensitivity for tropical regions. BVOCs are a very prominent precursor for the production of Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA). Therefore the sensitivity of BVOC emissions on land cover maps impacts the SOA burden in the atmosphere. With our model system we are able to quantify that impact. References: Guenther et al. (2006), Estimates of global terrestrial isoprene emissions using MEGAN, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3181-3210, doi:10.5194/acp-6-3181-2006. Jung et al. (2006), Exploiting synergies of global land cover products for carbon cycle modeling, Rem. Sens. Environm., 101, 534-553, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2006.01.020.

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y. H.; Shindell, D. T.; Faluvegi, G.; Pinder, R. W.

2015-11-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that reduces 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50 % below 2005 emissions. Using NASA GISS ModelE2, we look at the impacts in year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions and the rest of the world emissions are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in the future but result in positive radiative forcing. Surface PM2.5 is reduced by ~ 2 μg m-3 on average over the US, and surface ozone by ~ 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the US, mainly due to the PM2.5 reduction (~ 74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduces the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) by both aerosols direct and indirect forcing: total RF is ~ 0.04 W m-2 over the globe; ~ 0.8 W m-2 over the US. Under the hypothetical climate policy, future US energy relies less on coal and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it leads to climate dis-benefits over the US. In 2055, the US mean total RF is +0.22 W m-2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing, while the global mean total RF is -0.06 W m-2 due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF). To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1) to have multi-national efforts to reduce GHGs emissions and (2) to target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3) on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Yunha; Shindell, Drew T.; Faluvegi, Greg; Pinder, Rob W.

2016-04-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that aims to reduce 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50 % below 2005 emissions. Using the NASA GISS ModelE2 general circulation model, we look at the impacts for year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL (MARKet ALlocation) for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions data sets and the rest of the world emissions data sets are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in year 2030 and 2055 but result in positive radiative forcing. Under this scenario, no more emission constraints are added after 2020, and the impacts on air quality and climate change are similar between year 2030 and 2055. Surface particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) is reduced by ˜ 2 µg m-3 on average over the USA, and surface ozone by ˜ 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the USA, mainly due to the PM2.5 reduction (˜ 74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduce the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading to a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) over the USA by both aerosols' direct and indirect forcing: the total RF is ˜ 0.04 W m-2 over the globe, and ˜ 0.8 W m-2 over the USA. Under the hypothetical climate policy, a future CO2 emissions cut is achieved in part by relying less on coal, and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it could lead to potential climate disbenefits over the USA. In 2055, the US mean total RF is +0.22 W m-2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing

Potential Impact of a US Climate Policy and Air Quality Regulations on Future Air Quality and Climate Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Y. H.; Faluvegi, Gregory S.

2016-01-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that aims to reduce 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50% below 2005 emissions. Using the NASA GISS ModelE2 general circulation model, we look at the impacts for year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL (MARKet ALlocation) for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions data sets and the rest of the world emissions data sets are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in year 2030 and 2055 but result in positive radiative forcing. Under this scenario, no more emission constraints are added after 2020, and the impacts on air quality and climate change are similar between year 2030 and 2055. Surface particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micron PM(sub 2:5) is reduced by 2 approximately µg/m(sup -3) on average over the USA, and surface ozone by approximately 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the USA, mainly due to the PM(sub 2:5) reduction approximately (74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduce the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading to a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) over the USA by both aerosols' direct and indirect forcing: the total RF is approximately 0.04 W m(sup -2) over the globe, and approximately 0.8 W m(sup -2) over the USA. Under the hypothetical climate policy, a future CO2 emissions cut is achieved in part by relying less on coal, and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it could lead to potential climate disbenefits over the USA. In 2055, the US

Forced and Internal Multi-Decadal Variability in the North Atlantic and their Climate Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ting, M.

2017-12-01

Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV), a basin-wide North Atlantic sea surface temperature warming or cooling pattern varying on decadal and longer time scales, is one of the most important climate variations in the Atlantic basin. The AMV has shown to be associated with significant climate impacts regionally and globally, from Atlantic hurricane activities, frequency and severity of droughts across North America, as well as rainfall anomalies across the African Sahel and northeast Brazil. Despite the important impacts of the AMV, its mechanisms are not completely understood. In particular, it is not clear how much of the historical Atlantic SST fluctuations were forced by anthropogenic sources such as greenhouse warming and aerosol cooling, versus driven internally by changes in the coupled ocean-atmosphere processes in the Atlantic. Using climate models such as the NCAR large ensemble simulations, we were able to successfully separate the forced and internally generated North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies through a signal-to-noise maximizing Empirical Orthogonal Function (S/N EOF) analysis method. Two forced modes were identified with one representing a hemispherical symmetric mode and one asymmetric mode. The symmetric mode largely represents the greenhouse forced component while the asymmetric mode resembles the anthropogenic aerosol forcing. When statistically removing both of the forced modes, the residual multidecadal Atlantic SST variability shows a very similar structure as the AMV in the preindustrial simulation. The distinct climate impacts of each of these modes are also identified and the implications and challenges for decadal climate prediction will be discussed.

Regional Climate Effects of Aerosols Over South Asia: a Synthesis of Hybrid-Synergistic Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subba, T.; Gogoi, M. M.; Pathak, B.; Bhuyan, P. K.

2017-12-01

The south-Asian region faces formidable challenges in the accurate estimation of the aerosol-climate forcing due to the increasing demographic pressure and the rapid socio-economic growth which intensify the anthropogenic emissions causing degradation of regional air quality and climate. In this context, the present study employs a hybrid-method synergizing the aerosol data from ground-based measurements, satellite retrievals and radiative transfer simulations over the south-Asian region. The ground based aerosol and solar radiation data (2010-2015) are considered for nine selected locations of India as well as the adjoining Bay of Bengal representing distinct aerosol environment. The land use land cover (LULC) data from Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS-P6) is used to understand the association of aerosol environment with the change in the land surface pattern.The results indicate that the northern part, pre-dominantly the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) experiences the highest aerosol optical depth throughout the year. While the presence of dust plays a significant role in modifying the radiation balance over the west Asian region, extending to IGP; the highest Fire Radiative Power is observed over Eastern India ( 30 MW), the hotspot of biomass burning sources, followed by Central, South/West and Northern India. Considering the distinct source processes, incoming ground reaching fluxes are simulated using radiative transfer model, which showed a good correlation with the measured values (R2 0.97) with the mean bias errors between -40 to +7 Wm-2 (an overestimation of 2-4%). Estimated aerosol direct radiative forcing efficiency (DRFE) is highest over the eastern IGP due to heavy loading of long range transported aerosols from the arid region in the west, followed by the Himalayan foothills and west-Asian regions which are mostly dominated by agro-industrial and dust activities. However, a pristine high altitude location in the Western Ghats showed lower DRFE compared

Assessing the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on Pacific storm track using a multiscale global climate model

PubMed Central

Wang, Yuan; Wang, Minghuai; Zhang, Renyi; Ghan, Steven J.; Lin, Yun; Hu, Jiaxi; Pan, Bowen; Levy, Misti; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Molina, Mario J.

2014-01-01

Atmospheric aerosols affect weather and global general circulation by modifying cloud and precipitation processes, but the magnitude of cloud adjustment by aerosols remains poorly quantified and represents the largest uncertainty in estimated forcing of climate change. Here we assess the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on the Pacific storm track, using a multiscale global aerosol–climate model (GCM). Simulations of two aerosol scenarios corresponding to the present day and preindustrial conditions reveal long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols across the north Pacific and large resulting changes in the aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud and ice water paths. Shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere are changed by −2.5 and +1.3 W m−2, respectively, by emission changes from preindustrial to present day, and an increased cloud top height indicates invigorated midlatitude cyclones. The overall increased precipitation and poleward heat transport reflect intensification of the Pacific storm track by anthropogenic aerosols. Hence, this work provides, for the first time to the authors’ knowledge, a global perspective of the effects of Asian pollution outflows from GCMs. Furthermore, our results suggest that the multiscale modeling framework is essential in producing the aerosol invigoration effect of deep convective clouds on a global scale. PMID:24733923

On the characteristics of aerosol indirect effect based on dynamic regimes in global climate models

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Shipeng; Wang, Minghuai; Ghan, Steven J.; ...

2016-03-04

Aerosol–cloud interactions continue to constitute a major source of uncertainty for the estimate of climate radiative forcing. The variation of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) in climate models is investigated across different dynamical regimes, determined by monthly mean 500 hPa vertical pressure velocity ( ω 500), lower-tropospheric stability (LTS) and large-scale surface precipitation rate derived from several global climate models (GCMs), with a focus on liquid water path (LWP) response to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. The LWP sensitivity to aerosol perturbation within dynamic regimes is found to exhibit a large spread among these GCMs. It is in regimes of strongmore » large-scale ascent ( ω 500  <  −25 hPa day −1) and low clouds (stratocumulus and trade wind cumulus) where the models differ most. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing is also found to differ significantly among different regimes. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing in ascending regimes is close to that in subsidence regimes, which indicates that regimes with strong large-scale ascent are as important as stratocumulus regimes in studying AIE. It is further shown that shortwave aerosol indirect forcing over regions with high monthly large-scale surface precipitation rate (> 0.1 mm day −1) contributes the most to the total aerosol indirect forcing (from 64 to nearly 100 %). Results show that the uncertainty in AIE is even larger within specific dynamical regimes compared to the uncertainty in its global mean values, pointing to the need to reduce the uncertainty in AIE in different dynamical regimes.« less

Understanding the impact of saharan dust aerosols on tropical cyclones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naeger, Aaron

Genesis of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) in the main development region for Atlantic hurricanes is tied to convection initiated by African easterly waves (AEWs) during Northern hemisphere summer and fall seasons. The main development region is also impacted by dust aerosols transported from the Sahara. It has been hypothesized that dust aerosols can modulate the development of TCs through aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interaction processes. In this study, we investigate the impact of dust aerosols on TC development using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem). We first develop a technique to constrain the WRF-Chem model with a realistic three-dimensional spatial distribution of dust aerosols. The horizontal distribution of dust is specified using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived aerosol products and output from the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model. The vertical distribution of dust is constrained using the Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). We validate our technique through in situ aircraft measurements where both showed aerosol number concentrations from 20-30 cm-3 in the atmosphere for Saharan dust moving over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Then, we use the satellite data constraint technique to nudge the WRF-Chem aerosol fields throughout the simulation of TC Florence developing over the eastern Atlantic Ocean during September 2006. Three different experiments are conducted where the aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interaction processes are either activated or deactivated in the model while all other model options are identical between the experiments. By comparing the model experiment results, the impact of the aerosol interaction processes on TC development can be understood. The results indicate that dust aerosols can delay or prevent the development of a TC as the minimum sea level pressure of TC Florence was 13 h

AerChemMIP: Quantifying the effects of chemistry and aerosols in CMIP6

DOE PAGES

Collins, William J.; Lamarque, Jean -François; Schulz, Michael; ...

2017-02-09

The Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) is endorsed by the Coupled-Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) and is designed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases. These are specifically near-term climate forcers (NTCFs: methane, tropospheric ozone and aerosols, and their precursors), nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting halocarbons. The aim of AerChemMIP is to answer four scientific questions. 1. How have anthropogenic emissions contributed to global radiative forcing and affected regional climate over the historical period? 2. How might future policies (on climate, air quality and land use) affect the abundances of NTCFs and theirmore » climate impacts? 3.How do uncertainties in historical NTCF emissions affect radiative forcing estimates? 4. How important are climate feedbacks to natural NTCF emissions, atmospheric composition, and radiative effects? These questions will be addressed through targeted simulations with CMIP6 climate models that include an interactive representation of tropospheric aerosols and atmospheric chemistry. These simulations build on the CMIP6 Diagnostic, Evaluation and Characterization of Klima (DECK) experiments, the CMIP6 historical simulations, and future projections performed elsewhere in CMIP6, allowing the contributions from aerosols and/or chemistry to be quantified. As a result, specific diagnostics are requested as part of the CMIP6 data request to highlight the chemical composition of the atmosphere, to evaluate the performance of the models, and to understand differences in behaviour between them.« less

AerChemMIP: Quantifying the effects of chemistry and aerosols in CMIP6

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collins, William J.; Lamarque, Jean -François; Schulz, Michael

The Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) is endorsed by the Coupled-Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) and is designed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases. These are specifically near-term climate forcers (NTCFs: methane, tropospheric ozone and aerosols, and their precursors), nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting halocarbons. The aim of AerChemMIP is to answer four scientific questions. 1. How have anthropogenic emissions contributed to global radiative forcing and affected regional climate over the historical period? 2. How might future policies (on climate, air quality and land use) affect the abundances of NTCFs and theirmore » climate impacts? 3.How do uncertainties in historical NTCF emissions affect radiative forcing estimates? 4. How important are climate feedbacks to natural NTCF emissions, atmospheric composition, and radiative effects? These questions will be addressed through targeted simulations with CMIP6 climate models that include an interactive representation of tropospheric aerosols and atmospheric chemistry. These simulations build on the CMIP6 Diagnostic, Evaluation and Characterization of Klima (DECK) experiments, the CMIP6 historical simulations, and future projections performed elsewhere in CMIP6, allowing the contributions from aerosols and/or chemistry to be quantified. As a result, specific diagnostics are requested as part of the CMIP6 data request to highlight the chemical composition of the atmosphere, to evaluate the performance of the models, and to understand differences in behaviour between them.« less

Distinct Impacts of Aerosols on an Evolving Continental Cloud Complex during the RACORO Field Campaign

DOE PAGES

Lin, Yun; Wang, Yuan; Pan, Bowen; ...

2016-08-26

In this study, a continental cloud complex, consisting of shallow cumuli, a deep convective cloud (DCC), and stratus, is simulated by a cloud-resolving Weather Research and Forecasting Model to investigate the aerosol microphysical effect (AME) and aerosol radiative effect (ARE) on the various cloud regimes and their transitions during the Department of Energy Routine Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Aerial Facility Clouds with Low Optical Water Depths Optical Radiative Observations (RACORO) campaign. Under an elevated aerosol loading with AME only, a reduced cloudiness for the shallow cumuli and stratus resulted from more droplet evaporation competing with suppressed precipitation, but an enhanced cloudinessmore » for the DCC is attributed to more condensation. With the inclusion of ARE, the shallow cumuli are suppressed owing to the thermodynamic effects of light-absorbing aerosols. The responses of DCC and stratus to aerosols are monotonic with AME only but nonmonotonic with both AME and ARE. The DCC is invigorated because of favorable convection and moisture conditions at night induced by daytime ARE, via the so-called aerosol-enhanced conditional instability mechanism. Finally, the results reveal that the overall aerosol effects on the cloud complex are distinct from the individual cloud types, highlighting that the aerosol–cloud interactions for diverse cloud regimes and their transitions need to be evaluated to assess the regional and global climatic impacts.« less

Biomass-burning Aerosols in South East-Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsay, Si-Chee; Hsu, Christina N.; King, Michael D.; Sun, Wen-Yih

2003-01-01

Biomass burning has been a regular practice for land clearing and land conversion in many countries, especially those in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. However, the unique climatology of Southeast Asia is very different than that of Africa and South America, such that large-scale biomass burning causes smoke to interact extensively with clouds during the peak-burning season of March to April. Significant global sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2, CH4), chemically active gases (e.g., NO, CO, HC, CH3Br), and atmospheric aerosols are produced by biomass burning processes. These gases influence the Earth-atmosphere system, impacting both global climate and tropospheric chemistry. Some aerosols can serve as cloud condensation nuclei, which play an important role in determining cloud lifetime and precipitation, hence, altering the earth's radiation and water budget. Biomass burning also affects the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen and carbon compounds from the soil to the atmosphere; the hydrological cycle (i.e., run off and evaporation); land surface reflectivity and emissivity; as well as ecosystem biodiversity and stability. Analyses from satellite measurements reveal that smoke is frequently present solar (emitted thermal) radiation from clouds due to smoke aerosols can be reduced (enhanced) by as much as 100 (20) W/sq m over the month of March 2000. In addition, the reduction in cloud spectral reflectance at 670 run is large enough to lead to significant errors in retrieving cloud properties (e.g., optical thickness and effective radius) from satellite measurements. The fresh water distribution in this region is highly dependent on monsoon rainfall; in fact, the predictability of the tropical climate system is much reduced during the boreal spring. Estimating the burning fuel (e.g., bark, branches, and wood), an important part of studying regional carbon cycle, may rely on utilizing a wide range of distinctive spectral features in the shortwave and

The Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Can Be Tailored Using Multiple Injection Locations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacMartin, Douglas G.; Kravitz, Ben; Tilmes, Simone

The climate response to geoengineering with stratospheric aerosols has the potential to be designed to achieve some chosen objectives. By injecting different amounts of SO2 at multiple different latitudes, the spatial pattern of aerosol optical depth (AOD) can be partially controlled. We use simulations from the fully-coupled whole-atmosphere chemistry-climate model CESM1(WACCM), to demonstrate that three spatial degrees of freedom of AOD can be achieved by appropriately combining injection at different locations: an approximately spatially-uniform AOD distribution, the relative difference in AOD between Northern and Southern hemispheres, and the relative AOD in high versus low latitudes. For forcing levels that yieldmore » 1–2°C cooling, the AOD and surface temperature response are sufficiently linear in this model so that many climate effects can be predicted from single-latitude injection simulations. Optimized injection at multiple locations is predicted to improve compensation of CO2-forced climate change, relative to a case using only equatorial aerosol injection. The additional degrees of freedom can be used, for example, to balance interhemispheric temperature differences and the equator to pole temperature difference in addition to the global mean temperature; this is projected in this model to reduce the mean-square error in temperature compensation by 30%.« less

Climate impacts of air quality policy: switching to a natural gas-fueled public transportation system in New Delhi.

PubMed

Reynolds, Conor C O; Kandlikar, Milind

2008-08-15

Between 2001 and 2003, public transport vehicles in New Delhi were required to switch their fuel to natural gas in an attemptto reduce their air pollution impacts. This study examines the climatic impacts of New Delhi's fuel switching policy, and outlines implications for such efforts in rapidly industrializing countries. Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, an important greenhouse gas. Emitted aerosols (black carbon, particulate organic carbon, and sulfate) also cause radiative forcing. We find that methane and black carbon emissions are critical contributors to the change in carbon dioxide equivalent [CO2(e)] emissions. In New Delhi, the switch to natural gas results in a 30% increase in CO2(e) when the impact of aerosols is not considered. However, when aerosol emissions are taken into account in our model, the net effect of the switch is estimated to be a 10% reduction in CO2(e), and there may be as much as a 30% reduction in CO2(e). There is significant potential for emissions reductions through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism for such fuel switching projects.

Evaluation of Aerosol Mixing State Classes in the GISS Modele-matrix Climate Model Using Single-particle Mass Spectrometry Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Susanne E.; Ault, Andrew; Prather, Kimberly A.

2013-01-01

Aerosol particles in the atmosphere are composed of multiple chemical species. The aerosol mixing state, which describes how chemical species are mixed at the single-particle level, provides critical information on microphysical characteristics that determine the interaction of aerosols with the climate system. The evaluation of mixing state has become the next challenge. This study uses aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ATOFMS) data and compares the results to those of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies modelE-MATRIX (Multiconfiguration Aerosol TRacker of mIXing state) model, a global climate model that includes a detailed aerosol microphysical scheme. We use data from field campaigns that examine a variety of air mass regimens (urban, rural, and maritime). At all locations, polluted areas in California (Riverside, La Jolla, and Long Beach), a remote location in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (Sugar Pine) and observations from Jeju (South Korea), the majority of aerosol species are internally mixed. Coarse aerosol particles, those above 1 micron, are typically aged, such as coated dust or reacted sea-salt particles. Particles below 1 micron contain large fractions of organic material, internally-mixed with sulfate and black carbon, and few external mixtures. We conclude that observations taken over multiple weeks characterize typical air mass types at a given location well; however, due to the instrumentation, we could not evaluate mass budgets. These results represent the first detailed comparison of single-particle mixing states in a global climate model with real-time single-particle mass spectrometry data, an important step in improving the representation of mixing state in global climate models.

Total Volcanic Stratospheric Aerosol Optical Depths and Implications for Global Climate Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ridley, D. A.; Solomon, S.; Barnes, J. E.; Burlakov, V. D.; Deshler, T.; Dolgii, S. I.; Herber, A. B.; Nagai, T.; Neely, R. R., III; Nevzorov, A. V.;

Technical Note: On the use of nudging for aerosol-climate model intercomparison studies

DOE PAGES

Zhang, K.; Wan, H.; Liu, X.; ...

2014-04-24

Nudging is an assimilation technique widely used in the development and evaluation of climate models. Constraining the simulated wind and temperature fields using global weather reanalysis facilitates more straightforward comparison between simulation and observation, and reduces uncertainties associated with natural variabilities of the large-scale circulation. On the other hand, the forcing introduced by nudging can be strong enough to change the basic characteristics of the model climate. In the paper we show that for the Community Atmosphere Model version 5, due to the systematic temperature bias in the standard model and the sensitivity of simulated ice formation to anthropogenic aerosolmore » concentration, nudging towards reanalysis results in substantial reductions in the ice cloud amount and the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on longwave cloud forcing. In order to reduce discrepancies between the nudged and unconstrained simulations and meanwhile take the advantages of nudging, two alternative experimentation methods are evaluated. The first one constrains only the horizontal winds. The second method nudges both winds and temperature, but replaces the long-term climatology of the reanalysis by that of the model. Results show that both methods lead to substantially improved agreement with the free-running model in terms of the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget and cloud ice amount. The wind-only nudging is more convenient to apply, and provides higher correlations of the wind fields, geopotential height and specific humidity between simulation and reanalysis. This suggests nudging the horizontal winds but not temperature is a good strategy for the investigation of aerosol indirect effects through ice clouds, since it provides well-constrained meteorology without strongly perturbing the model's mean climate.« less

Scattering and Absorption of E&M radiation by small particles-applications to study impact of biomass aerosols on climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bililign, Solomon; Singh, Sujeeta; Fiddler, Marc; Smith, Damon

2015-03-01

The phenomena of scattering, absorption, and emission of light and other electromagnetic radiation by small particles are central to many science and engineering disciplines. Absorption of solar radiation by black carbon aerosols has a significant impact on the atmospheric energy distribution and hydrologic processes. By intercepting incoming solar radiation before it reaches the surface, aerosols heat the atmosphere and, in turn, cool the surface. The magnitude of the atmospheric forcing induced by anthropogenic absorbing aerosols, mainly black carbon (BC) emitted from biomass burning and combustion processes has been suggested to be comparable to the atmospheric forcing by all greenhouse gases (GHGs). Despite the global abundance of biomass burning for cooking, forests clearing for agriculture and wild fires, the optical properties of these aerosols have not been characterized at wide range of wavelengths. Our laboratory uses a combination of Cavity ring down spectroscopy and integrating nephelometry to measure optical properties of (extinction, absorption and scattering coefficients) of biomass aerosols. Preliminary results will be presented. Supported by the Department of Defense under Grant #W911NF-11-1-0188.

Tropospheric Aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buseck, P. R.; Schwartz, S. E.

2003-12-01

It is widely believed that "On a clear day you can see forever," as proclaimed in the 1965 Broadway musical of the same name. While an admittedly beautiful thought, we all know that this concept is only figurative. Aside from Earth's curvature and Rayleigh scattering by air molecules, aerosols - colloidal suspensions of solid or liquid particles in a gas - limit our vision. Even on the clearest day, there are billions of aerosol particles per cubic meter of air.Atmospheric aerosols are commonly referred to as smoke, dust, haze, and smog, terms that are loosely reflective of their origin and composition. Aerosol particles have arisen naturally for eons from sea spray, volcanic emissions, wind entrainment of mineral dust, wildfires, and gas-to-particle conversion of hydrocarbons from plants and dimethylsulfide from the oceans. However, over the industrial period, the natural background aerosol has been greatly augmented by anthropogenic contributions, i.e., those produced by human activities. One manifestation of this impact is reduced visibility (Figure 1). Thus, perhaps more than in other realms of geochemistry, when considering the composition of the troposphere one must consider the effects of these activities. The atmosphere has become a reservoir for vast quantities of anthropogenic emissions that exert important perturbations on it and on the planetary ecosystem in general. Consequently, much recent research focuses on the effects of human activities on the atmosphere and, through them, on the environment and Earth's climate. For these reasons consideration of the geochemistry of the atmosphere, and of atmospheric aerosols in particular, must include the effects of human activities. (201K)Figure 1. Impairment of visibility by aerosols. Photographs at Yosemite National Park, California, USA. (a) Low aerosol concentration (particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm, PM2.5=0.3 μg m-3; particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter less than 10 �

Development studies towards an 11-year global gridded aerosol optical thickness reanalysis for climate and applied applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynch, P.; Reid, J. S.; Westphal, D. L.; Zhang, J.; Hogan, T. F.; Hyer, E. J.; Curtis, C. A.; Hegg, D. A.; Shi, Y.; Campbell, J. R.; Rubin, J. I.; Sessions, W. R.; Turk, F. J.; Walker, A. L.

2015-12-01

While standalone satellite and model aerosol products see wide utilization, there is a significant need in numerous climate and applied applications for a fused product on a regular grid. Aerosol data assimilation is an operational reality at numerous centers, and like meteorological reanalyses, aerosol reanalyses will see significant use in the near future. Here we present a standardized 2003-2013 global 1° × 1° and 6 hourly modal aerosol optical thickness (AOT) reanalysis product. This dataset can be applied to basic and applied earth system science studies of significant aerosol events, aerosol impacts on numerical weather prediction, and electro-optical propagation and sensor performance, among other uses. This paper describes the science of how to develop and score an aerosol reanalysis product. This reanalysis utilizes a modified Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) at its core and assimilates quality controlled retrievals of AOT from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua and the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on Terra. The aerosol source functions, including dust and smoke, were regionally tuned to obtain the best match between the model fine and coarse mode AOTs and the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOTs. Other model processes, including deposition, were tuned to minimize the AOT difference between the model and satellite AOT. Aerosol wet deposition in the tropics is driven with satellite retrieved precipitation, rather than the model field. The final reanalyzed fine and coarse mode AOT at 550 nm is shown to have good agreement with AERONET observations, with global mean root mean square error around 0.1 for both fine and coarse mode AOTs. This paper includes a discussion of issues particular to aerosol reanalyses that make them distinct from standard meteorological reanalyses, considerations for extending such a reanalysis outside of the NASA A-Train era, and examples of how the

Direct and semi-direct aerosol radiative effect on the Mediterranean climate variability using a coupled regional climate system model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabat, Pierre; Somot, Samuel; Mallet, Marc; Sevault, Florence; Chiacchio, Marc; Wild, Martin

2015-02-01

A fully coupled regional climate system model (CNRM-RCSM4) has been used over the Mediterranean region to investigate the direct and semi-direct effects of aerosols, but also their role in the radiation-atmosphere-ocean interactions through multi-annual ensemble simulations (2003-2009) with and without aerosols and ocean-atmosphere coupling. Aerosols have been taken into account in CNRM-RCSM4 through realistic interannual monthly AOD climatologies. An evaluation of the model has been achieved, against various observations for meteorological parameters, and has shown the ability of CNRM-RCSM4 to reproduce the main patterns of the Mediterranean climate despite some biases in sea surface temperature (SST), radiation and cloud cover. The results concerning the aerosol radiative effects show a negative surface forcing on average because of the absorption and scattering of the incident radiation. The SW surface direct effect is on average -20.9 Wm-2 over the Mediterranean Sea, -14.7 Wm-2 over Europe and -19.7 Wm-2 over northern Africa. The LW surface direct effect is weaker as only dust aerosols contribute (+4.8 Wm-2 over northern Africa). This direct effect is partly counterbalanced by a positive semi-direct radiative effect over the Mediterranean Sea (+5.7 Wm-2 on average) and Europe (+5.0 Wm-2) due to changes in cloud cover and atmospheric circulation. The total aerosol effect is consequently negative at the surface and responsible for a decrease in land (on average -0.4 °C over Europe, and -0.5 °C over northern Africa) and sea surface temperature (on average -0.5 °C for the Mediterranean SST). In addition, the latent heat loss is shown to be weaker (-11.0 Wm-2) in the presence of aerosols, resulting in a decrease in specific humidity in the lower troposphere, and a reduction in cloud cover and precipitation. Simulations also indicate that dust aerosols warm the troposphere by absorbing solar radiation, and prevent radiation from reaching the surface, thus

Relevant climate response tests for stratospheric aerosol injection: A combined ethical and scientific analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenferna, Georges Alexandre; Russotto, Rick D.; Tan, Amanda; Gardiner, Stephen M.; Ackerman, Thomas P.

2017-06-01

In this paper, we focus on stratospheric sulfate injection as a geoengineering scheme, and provide a combined scientific and ethical analysis of climate response tests, which are a subset of outdoor tests that would seek to impose detectable and attributable changes to climate variables on global or regional scales. We assess the current state of scientific understanding on the plausibility and scalability of climate response tests. Then, we delineate a minimal baseline against which to consider whether certain climate response tests would be relevant for a deployment scenario. Our analysis shows that some climate response tests, such as those attempting to detect changes in regional climate impacts, may not be deployable in time periods relevant to realistic geoengineering scenarios. This might pose significant challenges for justifying stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection deployment overall. We then survey some of the major ethical challenges that proposed climate response tests face. We consider what levels of confidence would be required to ethically justify approving a proposed test; whether the consequences of tests are subject to similar questions of justice, compensation, and informed consent as full-scale deployment; and whether questions of intent and hubris are morally relevant for climate response tests. We suggest further research into laboratory-based work and modeling may help to narrow the scientific uncertainties related to climate response tests, and help inform future ethical debate. However, even if such work is pursued, the ethical issues raised by proposed climate response tests are significant and manifold.

Assessment of aerosol indirect effects over Indian subcontinent using long term MODIS aerosol and cloud data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Saurabh; Maitra, Animesh; Saha, Upal; De, Arijit

Aerosols have direct consequences on climate research and in climate change study due to its role in radiative forcing. The modulation of cloud properties due to the presence of aerosol is another important factor in understanding of the climate change scenario. However, the relationship between these two is mostly indirect as the meteorological conditions have a strong impact on the relationship. Cloud effective radius and decreases in precipitation efficiency are interlinked with the increase of aerosols. The net effect is that the cloud liquid water path and cloud lifetime increase with AOD. Though these facts are included in the global climate models (GCM), the quantitative estimation of aerosol indirect efficiency (AIE) varied widely. Some recent studies indicate an increasing trend of the aerosol optical depth over the Indian landmass. The anthropogenic activities are linked with this increase in aerosols. In general, aerosol increase can affect the cloud radius and leads to formation of non-precipitating cloud. However, the chemical composition of aerosols may also be an important factor. It is therefore necessary to have better understanding of the relationship for predicting the future climate which may be affected by such human activities. In this paper, the relation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) with cloud effective radius (CER) has been investigated over the Indian subcontinent using the long term MODIS observations. MODIS can able to provide reliable AOD information over the land surface. It also able to provide information of the cloud effective radius of the same observation point. A grid-wise correlation analysis can thus be performed to estimate the relation between AOD and CER. Result indicates both positive and negative AIE of AOD on CER. To identify the possible reason for such variability in the AIE, the role of anthropogenic aerosols and water vapor is investigated. The study on the efficiency of aerosol indirect effect indicates that a large

Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: Metrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuglestvedt, J. S.; Shine, K. P.; Berntsen, T.; Cook, J.; Lee, D. S.; Stenke, A.; Skeie, R. B.; Velders, G. J. M.; Waitz, I. A.

2010-12-01

The transport sector emits a wide variety of gases and aerosols, with distinctly different characteristics which influence climate directly and indirectly via chemical and physical processes. Tools that allow these emissions to be placed on some kind of common scale in terms of their impact on climate have a number of possible uses such as: in agreements and emission trading schemes; when considering potential trade-offs between changes in emissions resulting from technological or operational developments; and/or for comparing the impact of different environmental impacts of transport activities. Many of the non-CO 2 emissions from the transport sector are short-lived substances, not currently covered by the Kyoto Protocol. There are formidable difficulties in developing metrics and these are particularly acute for such short-lived species. One difficulty concerns the choice of an appropriate structure for the metric (which may depend on, for example, the design of any climate policy it is intended to serve) and the associated value judgements on the appropriate time periods to consider; these choices affect the perception of the relative importance of short- and long-lived species. A second difficulty is the quantification of input parameters (due to underlying uncertainty in atmospheric processes). In addition, for some transport-related emissions, the values of metrics (unlike the gases included in the Kyoto Protocol) depend on where and when the emissions are introduced into the atmosphere - both the regional distribution and, for aircraft, the distribution as a function of altitude, are important. In this assessment of such metrics, we present Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) as these have traditionally been used in the implementation of climate policy. We also present Global Temperature Change Potentials (GTPs) as an alternative metric, as this, or a similar metric may be more appropriate for use in some circumstances. We use radiative forcings and lifetimes

Climate response of the South Asian monsoon system to anthropogenic aerosols

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ganguly, Dilip; Rasch, Philip J.; Wang, Hailong

2012-07-13

The equilibrium climate response to the total effects (direct, indirect and semi-direct effects) of aerosols arising from anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions on the South Asian summer monsoon system is studied using a coupled atmosphere-slab ocean model. Our results suggest that anthropogenic and biomass burning aerosols generally induce a reduction in mean summer monsoon precipitation over most parts of the Indian subcontinent, strongest along the western coastline of the Indian peninsula and eastern Nepal region, but modest increases also occur over the north western part of the subcontinent. While most of the noted reduction in precipitation is triggered by increasedmore » emissions of aerosols from anthropogenic activities, modest increases in the north west are mostly associated with decreases in local emissions of aerosols from forest fire and grass fire sources. Anthropogenic aerosols from outside Asia also contribute to the overall reduction in precipitation but the dominant contribution comes from aerosol sources within Asia. Local emissions play a more important role in the total rainfall response to anthropogenic aerosol sources during the early monsoon period, whereas both local as well as remote emissions of aerosols play almost equally important roles during the later part of the monsoon period. While precipitation responses are primarily driven by local aerosol forcing, regional surface temperature changes over the region are strongly influenced by anthropogenic aerosols from sources further away (non-local changes). Changes in local anthropogenic organic and black carbon emissions by as much as a factor of two (preserving their ratio) produce the same basic signatures in the model's summer monsoon temperature and precipitation responses.« less

Improving organic aerosol treatments in CESM/CAM5: Development, application, and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glotfelty, Timothy; He, Jian; Zhang, Yang

2017-06-01

New treatments for organic aerosol (OA) formation have been added to a modified version of the CESM/CAM5 model (CESM-NCSU). These treatments include a volatility basis set treatment for the simulation of primary and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), a simplified treatment for organic aerosol (OA) formation from glyoxal, and a parameterization representing the impact of new particle formation (NPF) of organic gases and sulfuric acid. With the inclusion of these new treatments, the concentration of oxygenated organic aerosol increases by 0.33 µg m-3 and that of primary organic aerosol (POA) decreases by 0.22 µg m-3 on global average. The decrease in POA leads to a reduction in the OA direct effect, while the increased OOA increases the OA indirect effects. Simulations with the new OA treatments show considerable improvement in simulated SOA, oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), organic carbon (OC), total carbon (TC), and total organic aerosol (TOA), but degradation in the performance of HOA. In simulations of the current climate period, despite some deviations from observations, CESM-NCSU with the new OA treatments significantly improves the magnitude, spatial pattern, seasonal pattern of OC and TC, as well as, the speciation of TOA between POA and OOA. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the inclusion of the organic NPF treatment impacts the OA indirect effects by enhancing cloud properties. The simulated OA level and its impact on the climate system are most sensitive to choices in the enthalpy of vaporization and wet deposition of SVOCs, indicating that accurate representations of these parameters are critical for accurate OA-climate simulations.

Direct Radiative Impacts of Central American Biomass Burning Smoke Aerosols: Analysis from a Coupled Aerosol-Radiation-Meteorology Model RAMS-AROMA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Christopher, S. A.; Nair, U. S.; Reid, J. S.; Prins, E. M.

2005-12-01

Considerable efforts including various field experiments have been carried out in the last decade for studying the regional climatic impact of smoke aerosols produced by biomass burning activities in Africa and South America. In contrast, only few investigations have been conducted for Central American Biomass Burning (CABB) region. Using a coupled aerosol-radiation-meteorology model called RAMS-AROMA together with various ground-based observations, we present a comprehensive analysis of the smoke direct radiative impacts on the surface energy budget, boundary layer evolution, and e precipitation process during the CABB events in Spring 2003. Quantitative estimates are also made regarding the transboundary carbon mass to the U.S. in the form of smoke particles. Buult upon the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) mesoscale model, the RAMS AROMA has several features including Assimilation and Radiation Online Modeling of Aerosols (AROMA) algorithms. The model simulates smoke transport by using hourly smoke emission inventory from the Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) geostationary satellite database. It explicitly considers the smoke effects on the radiative transfer at each model time step and model grid, thereby coupling the dynamical processes and aerosol transport. Comparison with ground-based observation show that the simulation realistically captured the smoke transport timeline and distribution from daily to hourly scales. The effects of smoke radiative extinction on the decrease of 2m air temperature (2mT), diurnal temperature range (DTR), and boundary layer height over the land surface are also quantified. Warming due to smoke absorption of solar radiation can be found in the lower troposphere over the ocean, but not near the underlying land surface. The increase of boundary layer stability produces a positive feedback where more smoke particles are trapped in the lower boundary layer. These changes in temperature, surface

Estimating the impact of mineral aerosols on crop yields in food insecure regions using statistical crop models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, A.; Forest, C. E.; Kemanian, A.

2016-12-01

A significant number of food-insecure nations exist in regions of the world where dust plays a large role in the climate system. While the impacts of common climate variables (e.g. temperature, precipitation, ozone, and carbon dioxide) on crop yields are relatively well understood, the impact of mineral aerosols on yields have not yet been thoroughly investigated. This research aims to develop the data and tools to progress our understanding of mineral aerosol impacts on crop yields. Suspended dust affects crop yields by altering the amount and type of radiation reaching the plant, modifying local temperature and precipitation. While dust events (i.e. dust storms) affect crop yields by depleting the soil of nutrients or by defoliation via particle abrasion. The impact of dust on yields is modeled statistically because we are uncertain which impacts will dominate the response on national and regional scales considered in this study. Multiple linear regression is used in a number of large-scale statistical crop modeling studies to estimate yield responses to various climate variables. In alignment with previous work, we develop linear crop models, but build upon this simple method of regression with machine-learning techniques (e.g. random forests) to identify important statistical predictors and isolate how dust affects yields on the scales of interest. To perform this analysis, we develop a crop-climate dataset for maize, soybean, groundnut, sorghum, rice, and wheat for the regions of West Africa, East Africa, South Africa, and the Sahel. Random forest regression models consistently model historic crop yields better than the linear models. In several instances, the random forest models accurately capture the temperature and precipitation threshold behavior in crops. Additionally, improving agricultural technology has caused a well-documented positive trend that dominates time series of global and regional yields. This trend is often removed before regression with

Global Atmospheric Aerosol Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hendricks, Johannes; Aquila, Valentina; Righi, Mattia

2012-01-01

Global aerosol models are used to study the distribution and properties of atmospheric aerosol particles as well as their effects on clouds, atmospheric chemistry, radiation, and climate. The present article provides an overview of the basic concepts of global atmospheric aerosol modeling and shows some examples from a global aerosol simulation. Particular emphasis is placed on the simulation of aerosol particles and their effects within global climate models.

Assessing climate impacts

PubMed Central

Wohl, Ellen E.; Pulwarty, Roger S.; Zhang, Jian Yun

2000-01-01

Assessing climate impacts involves identifying sources and characteristics of climate variability, and mitigating potential negative impacts of that variability. Associated research focuses on climate driving mechanisms, biosphere–hydrosphere responses and mediation, and human responses. Examples of climate impacts come from 1998 flooding in the Yangtze River Basin and hurricanes in the Caribbean and Central America. Although we have limited understanding of the fundamental driving-response interactions associated with climate variability, increasingly powerful measurement and modeling techniques make assessing climate impacts a rapidly developing frontier of science. PMID:11027321

Impact of Assimilated and Interactive Aerosol on Tropical Cyclogenesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reale, O.; Lau, K. M.; daSilva, A.; Matsui, T.

2014-01-01

This article investigates the impact 3 of Saharan dust on the development of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic. A global data assimilation and forecast system, the NASA GEOS-5, is used to assimilate all satellite and conventional data sets used operationally for numerical weather prediction. In addition, this new GEOS-5 version includes assimilation of aerosol optical depth from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The analysis so obtained comprises atmospheric quantities and a realistic 3-d aerosol and cloud distribution, consistent with the meteorology and validated against Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat data. These improved analyses are used to initialize GEOS-5 forecasts, explicitly accounting for aerosol direct radiative effects and their impact on the atmospheric dynamics. Parallel simulations with/without aerosol radiative effects show that effects of dust on static stability increase with time, becoming highly significant after day 5 and producing an environment less favorable to tropical cyclogenesis.

Could geoengineering research help answer one of the biggest questions in climate science?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Robert; Ackerman, Thomas; Rasch, Philip; Wanser, Kelly

2017-07-01

Anthropogenic aerosol impacts on clouds constitute the largest source of uncertainty in quantifying the radiative forcing of climate, and hinders our ability to determine Earth's climate sensitivity to greenhouse gas increases. Representation of aerosol-cloud interactions in global models is particularly challenging because these interactions occur on typically unresolved scales. Observational studies show influences of aerosol on clouds, but correlations between aerosol and clouds are insufficient to constrain aerosol forcing because of the difficulty in separating aerosol and meteorological impacts. In this commentary, we argue that this current impasse may be overcome with the development of approaches to conduct control experiments whereby aerosol particle perturbations can be introduced into patches of marine low clouds in a systematic manner. Such cloud perturbation experiments constitute a fresh approach to climate science and would provide unprecedented data to untangle the effects of aerosol particles on cloud microphysics and the resulting reflection of solar radiation by clouds. The control experiments would provide a critical test of high-resolution models that are used to develop an improved representation aerosol-cloud interactions needed to better constrain aerosol forcing in global climate models.

Aerosol physicochemical properties in relation to meteorology: Case studies in urban, marine, and arid settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wonaschuetz, Anna

Atmospheric aerosols are a highly relevant component of the climate system affecting atmospheric radiative transfer and the hydrological cycle. As opposed to other key atmospheric constituents with climatic relevance, atmospheric aerosol particles are highly heterogeneous in time and space with respect to their size, concentration, chemical composition and physical properties. Many aspects of their life cycle are not understood, making them difficult to represent in climate models and hard to control as a pollutant. Aerosol-cloud interactions in particular are infamous as a major source of uncertainty in future climate predictions. Field measurements are an important source of information for the modeling community and can lead to a better understanding of chemical and microphysical processes. In this study, field data from urban, marine, and arid settings are analyzed and the impact of meteorological conditions on the evolution of aerosol particles while in the atmosphere is investigated. Particular attention is given to organic aerosols, which are a poorly understood component of atmospheric aerosols. Local wind characteristics, solar radiation, relative humidity and the presence or absence of clouds and fog are found to be crucial factors in the transport and chemical evolution of aerosol particles. Organic aerosols in particular are found to be heavily impacted by processes in the liquid phase (cloud droplets and aerosol water). The reported measurements serve to improve the process-level understanding of aerosol evolution in different environments and to inform the modeling community by providing realistic values for input parameters and validation of model calculations.

Anthropogenic Sulfate, Clouds, and Climate Forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghan, Steven J.

1997-01-01

This research work is a joint effort between research groups at the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Virginia Tech University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Texas A&M University. It has been jointly sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this research, a detailed tropospheric aerosol-chemistry model that predicts oxidant concentrations as well as concentrations of sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols has been coupled to a general circulation model that distinguishes between cloud water mass and cloud droplet number. The coupled model system has been first validated and then used to estimate the radiative impact of anthropogenic sulfur emissions. Both the direct radiative impact of the aerosols and their indirect impact through their influence on cloud droplet number are represented by distinguishing between sulfuric acid vapor and fresh and aged sulfate aerosols, and by parameterizing cloud droplet nucleation in terms of vertical velocity and the number concentration of aged sulfur aerosols. Natural sulfate aerosols, dust, and carbonaceous and nitrate aerosols and their influence on the radiative impact of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols, through competition as cloud condensation nuclei, will also be simulated. Parallel simulations with and without anthropogenic sulfur emissions are performed for a global domain. The objectives of the research are: To couple a state-of-the-art tropospheric aerosol-chemistry model with a global climate model. To use field and satellite measurements to evaluate the treatment of tropospheric chemistry and aerosol physics in the coupled model. To use the coupled model to simulate the radiative (and ultimately climatic) impacts of anthropogenic sulfur emissions.

Regional aerosol radiative and hydrological effects over the mid-Atlantic corridor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creekmore, Torreon N.

A thorough assessment of direct, indirect, and semi-direct influences of aerosols on Earth's energy budget is required to better understand climate and estimate how it may change in the future. Clear-sky surface broadband (measured and modeled) irradiance, spectral aerosol optical depth, heating rate profiles, and non-radiative flux measurements were conducted at a state-of-the-art site, developed by the NOAA-Howard University Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS) program, providing a best estimate of aerosol radiative atmosphere-surface interactions. Methods developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program were applied to: (1) temporally quantify regional aerosol forcing, (2) to derive an empirical equation describing a relationship between aerosol optical depth and normalized diffuse ratio, (3) evaluate aerosol impacts on atmospheric heating, and (4) evaluate how aerosol forcing impacts may possibly reduce latent and sensible fluxes. Measurements were obtained during the period of May--September for the years of 2005, 2006, and 2007. Atmospheric aerosols are among the key uncertainties affecting the Earth's climate and atmospheric radiative processes. Present-day increases in aerosol concentrations directly, indirectly, and semi-directly impact the Earth's energy budget (i.e., cooling the surface and heating the atmosphere), thereby contributing to climate change. The Howard University Beltsville Site (HUBS) has experienced a greater loss in mean normalized aerosol radiative forcing with time, as observations show a decrease from --0.9 in 2005 to --3.1 and --3.4 W/m2 for 2006 and 2007 respectively, in mean net surface irradiance. The mean normalized aerosol radiative forcing estimated for the period considered was --2.5 W/m2. The reduction in surface solar insolation is due to increased scattering and absorption related to increased aerosol burdens v for the period, promoting surface cooling and atmospheric heating

Aerosol loading impact on Asian monsoon precipitation patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biondi, Riccardo; Cagnazzo, Chiara; Costabile, Francesca; Cairo, Francesco

2017-04-01

Solar light absorption by aerosols such as black carbon and dust assume a key role in driving the precipitation patterns in the Indian subcontinent. The aerosols stack up against the foothills of the Himalayas in the pre-monsoon season and several studies have already demonstrated that this can cause precipitation anomalies during summer. Despite its great significance in climate change studies, the link between absorbing aerosols loading and precipitation patterns remains highly uncertain. The main challenge for this kind of studies is to find consistent and reliable datasets. Several aerosol time series are available from satellite and ground based instruments and some precipitation datasets from satellite sensors, but they all have different time/spatial resolution and they use different assumptions for estimating the parameter of interest. We have used the aerosol estimations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and validated them against the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements in the Indian area. The precipitation has been analyzed by using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) estimations and the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2). From our results it is evident the discrepancy between the aerosol loading on the area of interest from the OMI, AATSR, and MODIS, but even between 3 different algorithms applied to the MODIS data. This uncertainty does not allow to clearly distinguishing high aerosol loading years from low aerosol loading years except in a couple of cases where all the estimations agree. Similar issues are also present in the precipitation estimations from TRMM and MERRA-2. However, all the aerosol datasets agree in defining couples of consecutive years with a large gradient of aerosol loading. Based on this assumption we have compared the precipitation anomalies and

Aerosol Remote Sensing from Space - Where We Stand, Where We're Heading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahn, Ralph

2012-01-01

The MISR and MODIS instruments aboard the NASA Earth Observing System's Terra Satellite have been collecting data containing information about the state of Earth's atmosphere and surface for over twelve years. Among the retrieved quantities are the amount and type of wildfire smoke, desert dust, volcanic effluent, urban and industrial pollution particles, and other aerosols. Data from these instruments have been used to develop a global, monthly climatology of aerosol amount that is widely used as a constraint on climate models, including those used for the 2007 IPCC assessment report. However, the broad scientific challenges of understanding aerosol impacts on climate and health place different, and very exacting demands on our measurement capabilities. And these data sets, though much more advanced in many respects than previous aerosol data records, are imperfect. The next frontier in assessing aerosol radiative forcing of climate is aerosol type, and in particular, the absorption properties of major aerosol air masses. In this presentation, I will summarize current understanding of MISR and MODIS aerosol product strengths and limitations, discuss how they relate to the bigger aerosol science questions we must address, and give my view of the way forward.

Aerosol, cloud, and precipitation interactions in Eastern North Atlantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Wood, R.; Dong, X.

2017-12-01

With their extensive coverage, marine low clouds greatly impact global climate. Presently, marine low clouds are poorly represented in global climate models, and the response of marine low clouds to changes in atmospheric greenhouse gases and aerosols remains the major source of uncertainty in climate simulations. The Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) is a region of persistent but diverse subtropical marine boundary layer clouds, whose albedo and precipitation are highly susceptible to perturbations in aerosol properties. In addition, ENA is periodically impacted by anthropogenic aerosol both from North American and from continental Europe, making it an excellent location to study the CCN budget in a remote marine region periodically perturbed by anthropogenic emissions, and to investigate the impacts of long-range transport of aerosols on remote marine clouds. Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA), funded by DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, is designed to improve the understanding of marine boundary CCN budget, cloud and drizzle microphysics, and the impact of aerosol on marine low cloud and precipitation in the ENA by combining airborne observations and long term surface based measurements. The study has two airborne deployments. The first deployment took place from June 15 to July 25, 2017, and the second one will take place from January 10 to February 20, 2018. Flights during the first deployment were carried out in the Azores, near the ARM ENA site on Graciosa Island. The long term measurements at the ENA site provide important Climatological context for the airborne observations during the two deployments, and the cloud structures provided by the scanning radars at the ENA site put the detailed in-situ measurements into mesoscale and cloud lifecycle contexts. Another important aspect of this study is to provide high quality in-situ measurements for validating and improving ground-based retrieval algorithms at the ENA

Impact of volcanic aerosols on stratospheric ozone recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naik, Vaishali; Horowitz, Larry W.; Daniel Schwarzkopf, M.; Lin, Meiyun

2017-09-01

We use transient GFDL-CM3 chemistry-climate model simulations over the 2006-2100 period to show how the influence of volcanic aerosols on the extent and timing of ozone recovery varies with (a) future greenhouse gas scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)4.5 and RCP8.5) and (b) halogen loading. Current understanding is that elevated volcanic aerosols reduce ozone under high halogen loading but increase ozone under low halogen loading when the chemistry is more NOx dominated. With extremely low aerosol loadings (designated here as "background"), global stratospheric ozone burden is simulated to return to 1980 levels around 2050 in the RCP8.5 scenario but remains below 1980 levels throughout the 21st century in the RCP4.5 scenario. In contrast, with elevated volcanic aerosols, ozone column recovers more quickly to 1980 levels, with recovery dates ranging from the mid-2040s in RCP8.5 to the mid-2050s to early 2070s in RCP4.5. The ozone response in both future emission scenarios increases with enhanced volcanic aerosols. By 2100, the 1980 baseline-adjusted global stratospheric ozone column is projected to be 20-40% greater in RCP8.5 and 110-200% greater in RCP4.5 with elevated volcanic aerosols compared to simulations with the extremely low background aerosols. The weaker ozone enhancement at 2100 in RCP8.5 than in RCP4.5 in response to elevated volcanic aerosols is due to a factor of 2.5 greater methane in RCP8.5 compared with RCP4.5. Our results demonstrate the substantial uncertainties in stratospheric ozone projections and expected recovery dates induced by volcanic aerosol perturbations that need to be considered in future model ozone projections.

The effect of aerosols on northern hemisphere wintertime stationary waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewinschal, Anna; Ekman, Annica M. L.

2010-05-01

Aerosol particles have a considerable impact on the energy budget of the atmosphere because of their ability to scatter and absorb incoming solar radiation. Since the beginning of the industrialisation a large increase has been seen mainly in the concentrations of sulphate and black carbon as a result of combustion of fossil fuel and biomass burning. Aerosol particles have a relatively short residence time in the atmosphere why the aerosol concentration shows a large variation spatially as well as in time where high concentrations are found close to emission sources. This leads to a highly varying radiative forcing pattern which modifies temperature gradients which in turn can alter the pressure distribution and lead to changes in the circulation in the atmosphere. In this study, the effect on the wintertime planetary scale waves on the northern hemisphere is specifically considered together with the regional climate impact due to changes in the stationary waves. To investigate the effect of aerosols on the circulation a global general circulation model based on the ECMWF operational forecast model is used (EC-Earth). The aerosol description in EC-Earth consists of prescribed monthly mean mass concentration fields of five different types of aerosols: sulphate, black carbon, organic carbon, dust and sea salt. Only the direct radiative effect is considered and the different aerosol types are treated as external mixtures. Changes in the stationary wave pattern are determined by comparing model simulations using present-day and pre-industrial concentrations of aerosol particles. Since the planetary scale waves largely influence the storm tracks and are an important part of the meridional heat transport, changes in the wave pattern may have substantial impact on the climate globally and locally. By looking at changes in the model simulations globally it can be found that the aerosol radiative forcing has the potential to change the stationary wave pattern. Furthermore

Variability of Aerosol and its Impact on Cloud Properties Over Different Cities of Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alam, Khan

Interaction between aerosols and clouds is the subject of considerable scientific research, due to the importance of clouds in controlling climate. Aerosols vary in time in space and can lead to variations in cloud microphysics. This paper is a pilot study to examine the temporal and spatial variation of aerosol particles and their impact on different cloud optical properties in the territory of Pakistan using the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA's Terra satellite data and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) data. We also use Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model for trajectory analysis to obtain origin of air masses in order to understand the spatial and temporal variability of aerosol concentrations. We validate data of MODIS and MISR by using linear correlation and regression analysis, which shows that there is an excellent agreement between data of these instruments. Seasonal study of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) shows that maximum value is found in monsoon season (June-August) over all study areas. We analyze the relationships between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and some cloud parameters like water vapor (WV), cloud fraction (CF), cloud top temperature (CTT) and cloud top pressure (CTP). We construct the regional correlation maps and time series plots for aerosol and cloud parameters mandatory for the better understanding of aerosol-cloud interaction. Our analyses show that there is a strong positive correlation between AOD and water vapor in all cities. The correlation between AOD and CF is positive for the cities where the air masses are moist while the correlation is negative for cities where air masses are relatively dry and with lower aerosol abundance. It shows that these correlations depend on meteorological conditions. Similarly as AOD increases Cloud Top Pressure (CTP) is decreasing while Cloud Top Temperature (CTT) is increasing. Key Words: MODIS, MISR, HYSPLIT, AOD, CF, CTP

Quantitative impact of aerosols on numerical weather prediction. Part II: Impacts to IR radiance assimilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marquis, J. W.; Campbell, J. R.; Oyola, M. I.; Ruston, B. C.; Zhang, J.

2017-12-01

This is part II of a two-part series examining the impacts of aerosol particles on weather forecasts. In this study, the aerosol indirect effects on weather forecasts are explored by examining the temperature and moisture analysis associated with assimilating dust contaminated hyperspectral infrared radiances. The dust induced temperature and moisture biases are quantified for different aerosol vertical distribution and loading scenarios. The overall impacts of dust contamination on temperature and moisture forecasts are quantified over the west coast of Africa, with the assistance of aerosol retrievals from AERONET, MPL, and CALIOP. At last, methods for improving hyperspectral infrared data assimilation in dust contaminated regions are proposed.

The Effect of Central American Smoke Aerosols on the Air Quality and Climate over the Southeastern United States: First Results from RAMS-AROMA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Christopher, S. A.; Nair, U. S.; Reid, J.; Prins, E. M.; Szykman, J.

2004-12-01

Observation shows that smoke aerosols from biomass burning activities in Central America can be transported to the Southeastern United States (SEUS). In this study, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System - Assimilation and Radiation Online Modeling of Aerosols (RAMS-AROMA) is used to investigate the effect of transported smoke aerosols on climate and air quality over the SEUS. AROMA is an aerosol transport model with capabilities of online integration of aerosol radiation effects and online assimilation of satellite-derived aerosol and emission products. It is assembled within the RAMS, so two-way interactions between aerosol fields and other meteorology fields are achieved simultaneously during each model time step. RAMS-AROMA is a unique tool that can be used to examine the aerosol radiative impacts on the surface energy budget and atmospheric heating rate and to investigate how atmospheric thermal and dynamical processes respond to such impacts and consequently affect the aerosol distribution (so called feedbacks). First results regarding air quality effects and radiative forcing of transported smoke aerosols will be presented from RAMS-AROMA based on assimilation of smoke emission products from the Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) project and aerosol optical thickness data derived from the MODIS instrument on the Terra and Aqua satellites. Comparisons with PM2.5 data collected from the EPA observation network and the aerosol optical thickness data from the DOE Atmosphere Radiation Measurements in the Southern Great Plains (ARM SGP) showed that RAMS-AROMA can predict the timing and spatial distribution of smoke events very well, with an accuracy useful for air quality forecasts. The smoke radiative effects on the surface temperature and atmospheric heating rate as well as their feedbacks will also be discussed.

Characterizing Organic Aerosol Processes and Climatically Relevant Properties via Advanced and Integrated Analyses of Aerosol Mass Spectrometry Datasets from DOE Campaigns and ACRF Measurements. Final report for DE-SC0007178

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Qi

Organic aerosols (OA) are an important but poorly characterized component of the earth’s climate system. Enormous complexities commonly associated with OA composition and life cycle processes have significantly complicated the simulation and quantification of aerosol effects. To unravel these complexities and improve understanding of the properties, sources, formation, evolution processes, and radiative properties of atmospheric OA, we propose to perform advanced and integrated analyses of multiple DOE aerosol mass spectrometry datasets, including two high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-AMS) datasets from intensive field campaigns on the aerosol life cycle and the Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) datasets from long-term routinemore » measurement programs at ACRF sites. In this project, we will focus on 1) characterizing the chemical (i.e., composition, organic elemental ratios), physical (i.e., size distribution and volatility), and radiative (i.e., sub- and super-saturated growth) properties of organic aerosols, 2) examining the correlations of these properties with different source and process regimes (e.g., primary, secondary, urban, biogenic, biomass burning, marine, or mixtures), 3) quantifying the evolutions of these properties as a function of photochemical processing, 4) identifying and characterizing special cases for important processes such as SOA formation and new particle formation and growth, and 5) correlating size-resolved aerosol chemistry with measurements of radiative properties of aerosols to determine the climatically relevant properties of OA and characterize the relationship between these properties and processes of atmospheric aerosol organics. Our primary goal is to improve a process-level understanding of the life cycle of organic aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere. We will also aim at bridging between observations and models via synthesizing and translating the results and insights generated from

Geo-Engineering Climate Change with Sulfate Aerosol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasch, P. J.; Crutzen, P. J.

2006-12-01

We explore the impact of injecting a precursor of sulfate aerosols into the middle atmosphere where they would act to increase the planetary albedo and thus counter some of the effects of greenhouse gase forcing. We use an atmospheric general circulation model (CAM, the Community Atmosphere Model) coupled to a slab ocean model for this study. Only physical effects are examined, that is we ignore the biogeochemical and chemical implications of changes to greenhouse gases and aerosols, and do not explore the important ethical, legal, and moral issues that are associated with deliberate geo-engineering efforts. The simulations suggest that the sulfate aerosol produced from the SO2 source in the stratosphere is sufficient to counterbalance most of the warming associated with the greenhouse gas forcing. Surface temperatures return to within a few tenths of a degree(K) of present day levels. Sea ice and precipitation distributions are also much closer to their present day values. The polar region surface temperatures remain 1-3 degrees warm in the winter hemisphere than present day values. This study is very preliminary. Only a subset of the relevant effects have been explored. The effect of such an injection of aerosols on middle atmospheric chemistry, and the effect on cirrus clouds are obvious missing components that merit scrutiny. There are probably others that should be considered. The injection of such aerosols cannot help in ameliorating the effects of CO2 changes on ocean PH, or other effects on the biogeochemistry of the earth system.

Radiative Importance of Aerosol-Cloud Interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsay, Si-Chee

1999-01-01

even greater consequences. Presently we know that through the use of fossil fuel and land-use changes we have increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In parallel, we have seen a modest increase of global temperature in the last century. These two observations have been linked as cause and effect by climate models, but this connection is still experimentally not verified. The spatial and seasonal distribution of aerosol forcing is different from that of greenhouse gases, thus generating a different spatial fingerprint of climate change. This fingerprint was suggested as a method to identify the response of the climate system to anthropogenic forcing of greenhouse gases and aerosol. The aerosol fingerprint may be the only way to firmly establish the presence (or absence) of human impact on climate. Aerosol-cloud interaction through the indirect effect will be an important component of establishing this fingerprint.

Global Observations of Aerosols and Clouds from Combined Lidar and Passive Instruments to Improve Radiation Budget and Climate Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winker, David M.

1999-01-01

Current uncertainties in the effects of clouds and aerosols on the Earth radiation budget limit our understanding of the climate system and the potential for global climate change. Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne Observations - Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et des Aerosols (PICASSO-CENA) is a recently approved satellite mission within NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program which will address these uncertainties with a unique suite of active and passive instruments. The Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE) demonstrated the potential benefits of space lidar for studies of clouds and aerosols. PICASSO-CENA builds on this experience with a payload consisting of a two-wavelength polarization-sensitive lidar, an oxygen A-band spectrometer (ABS), an imaging infrared radiometer (IIR), and a wide field camera (WFC). Data from these instruments will be used to measure the vertical distributions of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere, as well as optical and physical properties of aerosols and clouds which influence the Earth radiation budget. PICASSO-CENA will be flown in formation with the PM satellite of the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) to provide a comprehensive suite of coincident measurements of atmospheric state, aerosol and cloud optical properties, and radiative fluxes. The mission will address critical uncertainties iin the direct radiative forcing of aerosols and clouds as well as aerosol influences on cloud radiative properties and cloud-climate radiation feedbacks. PICASSO-CENA is planned for a three year mission, with a launch in early 2003. PICASSO-CENA is being developed within the framework of a collaboration between NASA and CNES.

Climatic Effects of 1950-2050 Changes in US Anthropogenic Aerosols. Part 1; Aerosol Trends and Radiative Forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leibensperger, E. M.; Mickley, L. J.; Jacob, D. J.; Chen, W.-T.; Seinfeld, J. H.; Nenes, A.; Adams, P. J.; Streets, D. G.; Kumar, N.; Rind, D.

2012-01-01

We calculate decadal aerosol direct and indirect (warm cloud) radiative forcings from US anthropogenic sources over the 1950-2050 period. Past and future aerosol distributions are constructed using GEOS-Chem and historical emission inventories and future projections from the IPCC A1B scenario. Aerosol simulations are evaluated with observed spatial distributions and 1980-2010 trends of aerosol concentrations and wet deposition in the contiguous US. Direct and indirect radiative forcing is calculated using the GISS general circulation model and monthly mean aerosol distributions from GEOS-Chem. The radiative forcing from US anthropogenic aerosols is strongly localized over the eastern US. We find that its magnitude peaked in 1970-1990, with values over the eastern US (east of 100 deg W) of -2.0Wm(exp-2 for direct forcing including contributions from sulfate (-2.0Wm-2), nitrate (-0.2Wm(exp-2), organic carbon (-0.2Wm(exp-2), and black carbon (+0.4Wm(exp-2). The uncertainties in radiative forcing due to aerosol radiative properties are estimated to be about 50 %. The aerosol indirect effect is estimated to be of comparable magnitude to the direct forcing. We find that the magnitude of the forcing declined sharply from 1990 to 2010 (by 0.8Wm(exp-2) direct and 1.0Wm(exp-2 indirect), mainly reflecting decreases in SO2 emissions, and project that it will continue declining post-2010 but at a much slower rate since US SO2 emissions have already declined by almost 60% from their peak. This suggests that much of the warming effect of reducing US anthropogenic aerosol sources has already been realized. The small positive radiative forcing from US BC emissions (+0.3Wm(exp-2 over the eastern US in 2010; 5% of the global forcing from anthropogenic BC emissions worldwide) suggests that a US emission control strategy focused on BC would have only limited climate benefit.

Radiative Effects of Atmospheric Aerosols and Impacts on Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lund, Cory Christopher

Atmospheric aerosols, by scattering and absorbing radiation, perturbs the Earth's energy balance and reduces the amount of insolation reaching the surface. This dissertation first studies the radiative effects of aerosols by analyzing the internal mixing of various aerosol species. It then examines the aerosol impact on solar PV efficiency and the resulting influence on power systems, including both atmospheric aerosols and deposition of particulate matter (PM) on PV surfaces,. Chapter 2 studies the radiative effects of black carbon (BC), sulfate and organic carbon (OC) internal mixing using a simple radiative transfer model. I find that internal mixing may not result in a positive radiative forcing compared to external mixing, but blocks additional shortwave radiation from the surface, enhancing the surface dimming effect. Chapter 3 estimates the impact of atmospheric aerosol attenuation on solar PV resources in China using a PV performance model with satellite-derived long-term surface irradiance data. I find that, in Eastern China, annual average reductions of solar resources due to aerosols are more than 20%, with comparable impacts to clouds in winter. Improving air quality in China would increase efficiency of solar PV generation. As a positive feedback, increased PV efficiency and deployment would further reduce air pollutant emissions too. Chapter 4 further quantifies the total aerosol impact on PV efficiency globally, including both atmospheric aerosols and the deposition of PM on PV surfaces. I find that, if panels are uncleaned and soiling is only removed by precipitation, deposition of PM accounts for more than two-thirds of the total aerosol impact in most regions. Cleaning the panels, even every few months, would largely increase PV efficiency in resource-abundant regions. Chapter 5 takes a further step to evaluate the impact of PV generation reduction due to aerosols on a projected 2030 power system in China with 400GW of PV. I find that aerosols

A Risk-Based Framework for Assessing the Effectiveness of Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering

PubMed Central

Ferraro, Angus J.; Charlton-Perez, Andrew J.; Highwood, Eleanor J.

2014-01-01

Geoengineering by stratospheric aerosol injection has been proposed as a policy response to warming from human emissions of greenhouse gases, but it may produce unequal regional impacts. We present a simple, intuitive risk-based framework for classifying these impacts according to whether geoengineering increases or decreases the risk of substantial climate change, with further classification by the level of existing risk from climate change from increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. This framework is applied to two climate model simulations of geoengineering counterbalancing the surface warming produced by a quadrupling of carbon dioxide concentrations, with one using a layer of sulphate aerosol in the lower stratosphere, and the other a reduction in total solar irradiance. The solar dimming model simulation shows less regional inequality of impacts compared with the aerosol geoengineering simulation. In the solar dimming simulation, 10% of the Earth's surface area, containing 10% of its population and 11% of its gross domestic product, experiences greater risk of substantial precipitation changes under geoengineering than under enhanced carbon dioxide concentrations. In the aerosol geoengineering simulation the increased risk of substantial precipitation change is experienced by 42% of Earth's surface area, containing 36% of its population and 60% of its gross domestic product. PMID:24533155

Improving organic aerosol treatments in CESM/CAM5: Development, application, and evaluation

PubMed Central

Glotfelty, Timothy; He, Jian

2017-01-01

Abstract New treatments for organic aerosol (OA) formation have been added to a modified version of the CESM/CAM5 model (CESM‐NCSU). These treatments include a volatility basis set treatment for the simulation of primary and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), a simplified treatment for organic aerosol (OA) formation from glyoxal, and a parameterization representing the impact of new particle formation (NPF) of organic gases and sulfuric acid. With the inclusion of these new treatments, the concentration of oxygenated organic aerosol increases by 0.33 µg m−3 and that of primary organic aerosol (POA) decreases by 0.22 µg m−3 on global average. The decrease in POA leads to a reduction in the OA direct effect, while the increased OOA increases the OA indirect effects. Simulations with the new OA treatments show considerable improvement in simulated SOA, oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), organic carbon (OC), total carbon (TC), and total organic aerosol (TOA), but degradation in the performance of HOA. In simulations of the current climate period, despite some deviations from observations, CESM‐NCSU with the new OA treatments significantly improves the magnitude, spatial pattern, seasonal pattern of OC and TC, as well as, the speciation of TOA between POA and OOA. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the inclusion of the organic NPF treatment impacts the OA indirect effects by enhancing cloud properties. The simulated OA level and its impact on the climate system are most sensitive to choices in the enthalpy of vaporization and wet deposition of SVOCs, indicating that accurate representations of these parameters are critical for accurate OA‐climate simulations. PMID:29104733

Classification of Aerosol Retrievals from Spaceborne Polarimetry Using a Multiparameter Algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, Philip B.; Kacenelenbogen, Meloe; Livingston, John M.; Hasekamp, Otto P.; Burton, Sharon P.; Schuster, Gregory L.; Johnson, Matthew S.; Knobelspiesse, Kirk D.; Redemann, Jens; Ramachandran, S.;

Simulating Aerosol Optical Properties With the Aerosol Simulation Program (ASP): Closure Studies Using ARCTAS Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvarado, M. J.; Macintyre, H. L.; Bian, H.; Chin, M.; Wang, C.

2012-12-01

The scattering and absorption of ultraviolet and visible radiation by aerosols can significantly alter actinic fluxes and photolysis rates. Accurate modeling of aerosol optical properties is thus essential to simulating atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. Here we evaluate the aerosol optical property predictions of the Aerosol Simulation Program (ASP) with in situ data on aerosol scattering and absorption gathered during the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) campaign. The model simulations are initialized with in situ data on the aerosol size distribution and composition. We perform a set of sensitivity studies (e.g., internal vs. external mixture, core-in-shell versus Maxwell-Garnett, fraction of the organic carbon mass that is light-absorbing "brown carbon," etc.) to determine the model framework and parameters most consistent with the observations. We compare the ASP results to the aerosol optical property lookup tables in FAST-JX and suggest improvements that will better enable FAST-JX to simulate the impact of aerosols on photolysis rates and atmospheric chemistry.

Response of northern hemisphere environmental and atmospheric conditions to climate changes using Greenland aerosol records from the Eemian to the Holocene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fischer, H.

2017-12-01

The Northern Hemisphere experienced dramatic climate changes over the last glacial cycle, including vast ice sheet expansion and frequent abrupt climate events. Moreover, high northern latitudes during the last interglacial (Eemian) were warmer than today and may provide guidance for future climate change scenarios. However, little evidence exists regarding the environmental alterations connected to these climate changes. Using aerosol concentration records in decadal resolution from the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) over the last 128,000 years we extract quantitative information on environmental changes, including the first comparison of northern hemisphere environmental conditions between the warmer than present Eemian and the early Holocene. Separating source changes from transport effects, we find that changes in the ice concentration greatly overestimate the changes in atmospheric concentrations in the aerosol source region, the latter mirroring changes in aerosol emissions. Glacial times were characterized by a strong reduction in terrestrial biogenic emissions (only 10-20% of the early Holocene value) reflecting the net loss of vegetated area in mid to high latitudes, while rapid climate changes during the glacial had essentially no effect on terrestrial biogenic aerosol emissions. An increase in terrestrial dust emissions of approximately a factor of eight during peak glacial and cold stadial intervals indicates higher aridity and dust storm activity in Asian deserts. Glacial sea salt aerosol emissions increased only moderately (by approximately 50%), likely due to sea ice expansion, while marked stadial/interstadial variations in sea salt concentrations in the ice reflect mainly changes in wet deposition en route. Eemian ice contains lower aerosol concentrations than ice from the early Holocene, due to shortened atmospheric residence time during the warmer Eemian, suggesting that generally 2°C warmer climate in high northern latitudes did not

Global Air Quality and Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fiore, Arlene M.; Naik, Vaishali; Steiner, Allison; Unger, Nadine; Bergmann, Dan; Prather, Michael; Righi, Mattia; Rumbold, Steven T.; Shindell, Drew T.; Skeie, Ragnhild B.;

Global air quality and climate.

PubMed

Fiore, Arlene M; Naik, Vaishali; Spracklen, Dominick V; Steiner, Allison; Unger, Nadine; Prather, Michael; Bergmann, Dan; Cameron-Smith, Philip J; Cionni, Irene; Collins, William J; Dalsøren, Stig; Eyring, Veronika; Folberth, Gerd A; Ginoux, Paul; Horowitz, Larry W; Josse, Béatrice; Lamarque, Jean-François; MacKenzie, Ian A; Nagashima, Tatsuya; O'Connor, Fiona M; Righi, Mattia; Rumbold, Steven T; Shindell, Drew T; Skeie, Ragnhild B; Sudo, Kengo; Szopa, Sophie; Takemura, Toshihiko; Zeng, Guang

2012-10-07

Emissions of air pollutants and their precursors determine regional air quality and can alter climate. Climate change can perturb the long-range transport, chemical processing, and local meteorology that influence air pollution. We review the implications of projected changes in methane (CH(4)), ozone precursors (O(3)), and aerosols for climate (expressed in terms of the radiative forcing metric or changes in global surface temperature) and hemispheric-to-continental scale air quality. Reducing the O(3) precursor CH(4) would slow near-term warming by decreasing both CH(4) and tropospheric O(3). Uncertainty remains as to the net climate forcing from anthropogenic nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emissions, which increase tropospheric O(3) (warming) but also increase aerosols and decrease CH(4) (both cooling). Anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and non-CH(4) volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) warm by increasing both O(3) and CH(4). Radiative impacts from secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are poorly understood. Black carbon emission controls, by reducing the absorption of sunlight in the atmosphere and on snow and ice, have the potential to slow near-term warming, but uncertainties in coincident emissions of reflective (cooling) aerosols and poorly constrained cloud indirect effects confound robust estimates of net climate impacts. Reducing sulfate and nitrate aerosols would improve air quality and lessen interference with the hydrologic cycle, but lead to warming. A holistic and balanced view is thus needed to assess how air pollution controls influence climate; a first step towards this goal involves estimating net climate impacts from individual emission sectors. Modeling and observational analyses suggest a warming climate degrades air quality (increasing surface O(3) and particulate matter) in many populated regions, including during pollution episodes. Prior Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios (SRES) allowed unconstrained growth, whereas

An 11-year global gridded aerosol optical thickness reanalysis (v1.0) for atmospheric and climate sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynch, Peng; Reid, Jeffrey S.; Westphal, Douglas L.; Zhang, Jianglong; Hogan, Timothy F.; Hyer, Edward J.; Curtis, Cynthia A.; Hegg, Dean A.; Shi, Yingxi; Campbell, James R.; Rubin, Juli I.; Sessions, Walter R.; Turk, F. Joseph; Walker, Annette L.

2016-04-01

While stand alone satellite and model aerosol products see wide utilization, there is a significant need in numerous atmospheric and climate applications for a fused product on a regular grid. Aerosol data assimilation is an operational reality at numerous centers, and like meteorological reanalyses, aerosol reanalyses will see significant use in the near future. Here we present a standardized 2003-2013 global 1 × 1° and 6-hourly modal aerosol optical thickness (AOT) reanalysis product. This data set can be applied to basic and applied Earth system science studies of significant aerosol events, aerosol impacts on numerical weather prediction, and electro-optical propagation and sensor performance, among other uses. This paper describes the science of how to develop and score an aerosol reanalysis product. This reanalysis utilizes a modified Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) at its core and assimilates quality controlled retrievals of AOT from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua and the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on Terra. The aerosol source functions, including dust and smoke, were regionally tuned to obtain the best match between the model fine- and coarse-mode AOTs and the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOTs. Other model processes, including deposition, were tuned to minimize the AOT difference between the model and satellite AOT. Aerosol wet deposition in the tropics is driven with satellite-retrieved precipitation, rather than the model field. The final reanalyzed fine- and coarse-mode AOT at 550 nm is shown to have good agreement with AERONET observations, with global mean root mean square error around 0.1 for both fine- and coarse-mode AOTs. This paper includes a discussion of issues particular to aerosol reanalyses that make them distinct from standard meteorological reanalyses, considerations for extending such a reanalysis outside of the NASA A-Train era, and examples of how

Evaluating the Regional Impact of Aircraft Emissions on Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)