The roles of aerosols in the climate and its changes: what have we learned from the AMF-China campaign and future challenges?
Authors
Zhanqing Li — University of Maryland
Si-Chee Tsay — NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Jianping Huang — Lanzhou University
Feng Niu — University of Maryland
Hongbin Chen — Institute of Atmospheric Physics
Jiwen Fan — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jinqiang Zhang — University of Maryland
Category
Aerosol-Cloud-Radiation Interactions
Description
Heavy and widespread presence of aerosols in China could impinge significantly on regional and global climate depending on aerosol distribution, transport, and evolution of optical, physical, and chemical properties. To unravel the impact and interactions between aerosols and regional climate, several field experiments have been conducted in the region, most notably the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Mobile Facility deployment in 2008 (AMF-China). Thanks to the field experiments, rich data have been acquired pertaining to aerosol properties, meteorological regimes, cloud, radiation, and precipitation, which allow us to gain insights into the potential mechanism by which aerosols affect and interact with the monsoon regime. By taking advantage of the field observation data, many investigations have been carried out with major findings published in a special issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research. A subset of the studies by means of data analysis and modeling (GCM and CRM) will be reviewed that is concerned with aerosol direct and indirect effects on the climate via altering radiation budget (from top to the bottom), atmospheric thermodynamics (adiabatic heating), cloud microphysical processes, and atmospheric circulation. Remaining challenges and proposed solutions for future studies will be discussed as well.
