Global aerosol model-derived black carbon concentration and single scattering albedo over Indian region and its comparison with ground observations

Black carbon (BC) aerosols through their light-absorbing properties create strong perturbation in the atmosphere by heating the atmosphere. BC mass concentration and single scattering albedo (SSA) are important parameters to investigate atmospheric heating. In the present study, measurements of BC and SSA over Indian region from the literature are summarized and compared with simulations by a global aerosol model SPRINTARS. It has been observed that BC emission inventory widely used in the world is underestimating and the model simulated SSA tends to be higher than observed-SSA. In addition to the inventory, we have run the global model using the different BC emission inventory interpolated by Streets et al. (2003) over Asia. The model runs with this inventory was found to provide comparable results with ground observations for BC and SSA. Aerosol radiative forcing due to direct effect (ADRF) over Indian region estimated to be −2.76 W m−2 at the surface and −1.91 W m−2 at the atmosphere using the modified emission inventory in the global aerosol model. The atmospheric heating is estimated to be +0.85 W m−2, which is three times higher than the original emission inventory estimated value of +0.25 W m−2. Results of the study suggest that the differences in various BC emission inventories widely used in the world’s research community should be studied for proper estimation of the aerosol radiative forcing over the Indian region.

► We collected many measurements of BC and SSA in Indian region for model validation.
► We compared the measurements to results of our global aerosol model in Indian region.
► The BC emission widely used in the world underestimates BC and overestimates SSA.
► The model with the different BC emission provided closer results to the measurements.
► The difference in the atmospheric heating between two simulations was +0.85 W m−2.