Regional Aerosol Warming Experiment (RAWEX): A new experiment of ISRO over the Indian region
Authors
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Category
Field Campaigns
Description
ARFINET stations involved in the RAWEX; stations marked red forming the meridional chain will be making intense observations of possible warming signatures.
The recent multi-platform field experiment, Integrated Campaign on Aerosol gases and Radiation Budget (ICARB), over the Indian region has provided unequivocal evidence for the persistence of elevated layers of enhanced aerosol extinction over the Indian region with a northward gradient in the layer height and warming amplitude (Satheesh et al., 2008, GRL). With synthesis of ground-based ARFINET (Aerosol Radiative Forcing over India Network) data with the thermal IR data from METEOSAT, Moorthy et al. (2007, JGR) have demonstrated that the absorption efficiency of dust over the Indian region is substantially higher than that over Saharan regions. Aircraft measurements during ICARB have shown enhanced BC concentration above the boundary layer in the region of 2 to 4 km (Babu et al., 2008, JESS). Examining these exciting discoveries against the backdrop of the climate simulations of the possible impacts of the elevated warming on monsoon circulation and rainfall distributions over Asia, a new multi-year, multi-disciplinary, field campaign called RAWEX (Regional Aerosol Warming Experiment), which involves aircraft and high-altitude balloon-borne measurements of aerosols and meteorological parameters, has been taken up under ISRO-GBP. Under this experiment, a chain of super-sites is being set up along the meridional line, having intense observations; all other ARFINET observatories will provide the necessary supporting data. The details of the experiment will be presented.
