Long-range transport of aerosols from agriculture crop residue burning in Indo-Gangetic Plains-A study using LIDAR, ground measurements and satellite data

Agriculture crop residue burning in tropics is an important source of atmospheric aerosols and monitoring their long-range transport is an important element in climate change studies. Synchronous measurements using micro-pulsed lidar, MICROTOPS-II sun photometer, multi-filter rotating shadow band radiometer (MFRSR) on aerosol optical depth and ground reaching solar irradiance were carried at an urban location in central region of India. Aerosol backscatter profiles obtained from micro-pulse lidar showed elevated aerosol layers up to ∼3 km on certain days during October 2007. Satellite data observations on aerosol properties suggested transport of particles from agriculture crop residue burning in Indo-Gangetic Plains over large regions. Radiative forcing of aerosols estimated from SBDART model with input information on aerosol chemical properties, aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo and broadband solar irradiance measurements using MFRSR showed good correlation (R=0.98).