Particulate absorption of solar radiation: anthropogenic aerosols vs. dust
Name
Wang-2009-Particulate absorption of solar radiation anthropogenic aerosols vs. dust.pdf
Size
2.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ff460b5802c19fc7b9ce97f788d58e17
Author(s)
Wang, Chien
Jeong, Gill-Ran
Mahowald, N. M.
Date Issued
March 2009
Journal
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
Publisher
Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geophysical Society
Citation
Wang, C., G. R. Jeong, and N. Mahowald. "Particulate absorption of solar radiation: anthropogenic aerosols vs. dust." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 9, 3935–3945, 2009.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Particulate solar absorption is a critical factor in determining the value and even sign
of the direct radiative forcing of aerosols. The heating to the atmosphere and cooling
to the Earth’s surface caused by this absorption are hypothesized to have significant
climate impacts. We find that anthropogenic aerosols play an important role around
the globe in total particulate absorption of solar radiation. The global-average anthropogenic
fraction in total aerosol absorbing optical depth exceeds 65% in all seasons.
Combining the potentially highest dust absorption with the lowest anthropogenic absorption
within our model range, this fraction would still exceed 47% in most seasons
except for boreal spring (36%) when dust abundance reaches its peak. Nevertheless,
dust aerosol is still a critical absorbing constituent over places including North Africa,
the entire tropical Atlantic, and during boreal spring in most part of Eurasian continent.
The equality in absorbing solar radiation of dust and anthropogenic aerosols appears
to be particularly important over Indian subcontinent and nearby regions as well as
North Africa.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Global Change Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global Change
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/3935/2009/acp-9-3935-2009.pdf
