Aerosol types and radiative forcing estimates over East Asia

Using the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite data sets along with the CSIRO-MK 3.6.0 model simulations, we analyzed the aerosol optical depth (AOD) variability during March-May (MAM), June-August (JJA) along with their annual mean variability over East Asia for the period 2006-2012. The CALIPSO measurements correlated well with the MODIS measurements and the CSIRO-MK 3.6.0 model simulations over the spatial distribution patterns of the aerosols, but CALIPSO underestimated the magnitudes of the AOD. Maximum smoke aerosol loading is observed to occur during JJA, as a result of wind transport from Southern China while dust loading dominated during MAM via the transport from desert region. The vertical distribution profiles revealed that there is uniform distribution of smoke aerosols during both MAM and JJA, only differing at the altitude at which they peak; while the dust aerosols during MAM showed a significant distribution from the surface to 10 km altitude and JJA was marked with lower dust loading at the same altitudes. Both dust and smoke aerosols warm the atmosphere in MAM but due to the absorbing nature of smoke aerosols, they cause considerable cooling at the surface which is double when compared to the dust aerosols. The top of the atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) due to smoke and dust aerosols is positive in MAM which indicates warming over East Asia. During MAM a consistent declining trend of the surface ARF due to smoke aerosols persisted over the last three decades as conspicuously evidenced from model analysis; the decline is ∼10 W/m2 from 1980 to 2012.