Since the 1970s, China has continuously improved air pollution treatment and emission standards, but polluted weather still occurs frequently in some areas, especially haze weather. At present, most of the research on haze weather focuses on particulate matter, while ignoring the mechanism of aerosol-radiation-surface ozone interaction under haze weather. Therefore, this paper analyses the relationship between aerosol-radiation-surface ozone with the help of the (SBDART) model for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), using 2013-2021 as the time line. The results show similar trends in total column ozone and tropospheric ozone, and separate trends in surface ozone. Total column ozone and tropospheric ozone concentrations are at high values in spring and summer and low values in fall and winter; surface ozone is higher in summer and fall and lower in winter and spring. In contrast, Absorbing aerosol index (AAI) had high values in both spring and winter, and low values in summer and autumn. AAI, PM10 and Black carbon (BC) showed negative relations with ozone overall, but AAI and tropospheric ozone reached high values simultaneously in spring, indicating a rapid increase of pollutants caused by meteorological factors and human activities. Ozone concentration decreases from high values when precipitable water increases significantly. The analysis of potential sources of AAI indicated that local sources centered in Guangzhou were the primary source of AAI in the urban agglomeration of GBA, while other potential sources include biomass sources in the south and ozone sources in the northeast. The photolysis rate of fine-grained urban/industrial aerosols did not decrease significantly, leading to an increase in surface ozone concentration. Therefore, low aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) may increase surface ozone concentrations in the fine-particle aerosol mode.
The study examines the thermodynamic structure of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) and its effect on the aerosol dynamics in the Indian Ocean sector of Southern Ocean (ISSO) between 30 degrees S-67 degrees S and 57 degrees E-77 degrees E. It includes observations of aerosols and meteorology collected during the Xth Southern Ocean Expedition conducted in December 2017. The results revealed the effect of frontal-region-specific air-sea coupling on the thermodynamic structure of MABL and its role in regulating aerosols in ISSO. The MABL over the subtropical front was unstable and formed a well-evolved mixed layer ( 2400 m) capped by low-level inversions ( 660 m). Convective activities in the Sub-Antarctic Frontal region were associated with the Agulhas Retroflection Current, which supported the forma-tion of a well-developed mixed layer ( 1860 m). The mean estimates of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and black carbon (BC) mass concentrations were 0.095 +/- 0.006 and 50 +/- 14 ng m-3, respectively, and the resultant clear sky direct shortwave radiative forcing (DARF) and atmospheric heating rate (HR) were 1.32 +/- 0.11 W m-2 and 0.022 +/- 0.002 K day-1, respectively. In the polar front (PF) region, frequent mid-latitude cyclones led to highly stabilized MABL, supported low-level multi-layered clouds (>3-layers) and multiple high-level inversions (strength > 0.5 K m-1 > 3000 m). The clouds were mixed-phased with temperatures less than -12 degrees C at 3000 m altitude. Interestingly, there was higher loading of dust and BC aerosols (276 +/- 24 ng m-3), maximum AOD (0.109 +/- 0.009), clear sky DARF (1.73 +/- 0.02 W m-2), and HR (0.029 +/- 0.005 K day-1). This showed an accumulation of long-range advected anthro-pogenic aerosols within baroclinic-boundaries formed over the PF region. Specifically, in the region south of PF, weak convection caused weakly-unstable MABL with a single low-level inversion followed by no clouds/single-layer clouds. Predominant clean maritime air holding a small fraction of dust and BC accounted for lower estimates of AOD (0.071 +/- 0.004), BC concentrations (90 +/- 55 ng m-3) and associated clear sky DARF and HR were 1.16 +/- 0.06 W m-2 and 0.019 +/- 0.001 K day-1, respectively.
Multi year measurements of surface-reaching solar (shortwave) radiation fluxes across a network of aerosol observatories (ARFINET) are combined with concurrent satellite (CERES)-based top of the atmosphere (TOA) fluxes to estimate regional aerosol direct radiative forcing (ARF) over the Indian region. The synergistic approach improves the accuracy of ARF estimates, which otherwise results in an overestimation or underestimation of the atmospheric forcing. During summer, an overestimation of similar to 5 W m(-2) (corresponding heating rate similar to 0.15 K day(-1)) is noticed. The regional average ARF from the synergistic approach reveals the surface forcing reaching -49 W m(-2) over the Indo Gangetic Plains, -45 W m(-2) over northeast India, -34 W m(-2) over the southern Peninsula, and - 16 W m(-2) in the oceanic regions of the Bay of Bengal. The ARF over the northern half of the Indian subcontinent is influenced mainly by anthmpogenic sulfate and carbonaceous aerosols. Dust is dominant in the western region of India during MAM and JJAS. Overall, the clear sky surface reaching solar radiation fluxes is reduced by 3-22% due to the abundance of aerosols in the atmosphere, with the highest reduction over the IGP during autumn and winter.
The sub-daily variability of aerosols affects the estimates of daily mean aerosol loading. However, large spatial scale estimates of their climate effects are mostly based on snapshots from low orbit satellites that may bias the mean estimate for daily, monthly, or annual timescales. In this study, an attempt is made to estimate the magnitude of such bias based on ground and satellite-based datasets. Using ground-based measurements, we show an apparent asymmetry (of the order of 10-50%) in the sub-daily variability of aerosol loading over the Indian region. For the first time, it is reported that this sub-daily variability has a spatial pattern with an increasing amplitude toward the east of the subcontinent. We also find this variability in aerosol loading is well-captured by the satellites but with a lower amplitude. Our study shows that such differences could alter the annual surface radiative forcing estimates by more than similar to 15 W m(-2) over this region. We find that NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2), a state-of-the-art model-based chemical reanalysis, is unable to capture these sub-daily variabilities. This implies that both model and satellite-based radiative forcing estimates for large spatial scales should improve aerosol sub-daily information/variabilities for obtaining reliable radiative forcing estimates.
Absorbing aerosols mainly Black Carbon (BC) have potential effects on the hydrological cycle and climate change over the high-altitude regions particularly in South Asia. The BC measurements are sparse in high altitude locations of the world particularly over the Northern regions of Pakistan. This study investigated the diurnal/monthly variations of BC and its climatic impacts during the period of 2016-2017 over four high altitude locations, i.e., Astore, Gilgit, Sost and Skardu located in the Himalaya-Karakorum-Hindukush (HKH) mountain ranges in Northern Pakistan. The Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) model was used for the estimation of aerosol optical properties, e.g., Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Asymmetry Parameter (AP) and Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) using the BC number density corresponding to the BC mass concentration. Then the model derived optical properties (AOD, AP and SSA), surface reflectance, ozone and water vapor were used in Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model for the calculation of BC aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) at the Top Of Atmosphere (TOA), Surface (SUR) and within the ATMosphere (ATM). The results revealed that the mean monthly BC concentrations were maximum during November (3.05 +/- 0.7 mu g/m(3)) as well as in December (3.05 +/- 0.5 mu g/m(3)) at Gilgit and minimum during August (1.1 +/- 0.3 mu g/m(3)) at Sost. Correspondingly, the diurnal variation of BC concentrations displayed strong fluctuations, with high concentrations in the late night and early morning during November and December for Astore and Gilgit, respectively. Generally, the BC concentrations were maximum/minimum in the morning/evening during May, June, August and September at all locations. The correlation of BC with different meteorological parameters showed that the BC has positive correlation with temperature and wind speed, while negative with relative humidity and rainfall. The HYSPLIT back trajectory analysis revealed that air masses arrived the study locations from both long distance (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and China) and local sources. The monthly mean maximum and minimum BC ARF values at SUR (TOA) were found to be 43.7 +/- 3.0 W/m(2) (8.2 +/- 0.2 W/m(2)) and 16.4 +/- 1.0 W/m(2) (1.2 +/- 0.1 W/m(2)), respectively, giving an averaged atmospheric forcing of 35.7 +/- 2.3 W/m(2) and 15.2 +/- 1.9 W/m(2).
The present study examines the effect of Diwali festival (17-21 October 2017; 19th October was the Diwali day) on aerosol characteristics over Patiala, northwestern part of India. Diwali being one of the major festivals of India that falls between mid-October and mid-November is celebrated with full enthusiasm by burning crackers, fireworks, etc. During this period, the study site also is engulfed with high aerosol loading because of extensive paddy residue burning emission. During Diwali event, a particulate matter (PM10) concentration varies from 132 to 155 mu gm(-3), while a mass concentration of black carbon aerosols varies from 6 to 9 mu gm(-3) with the maximum concentration on post-Diwali day. Aerosol optical depth (AOD(500)) was maximum (0.852) on post-Diwali day indicating the additional loading of submicron particles due to burning of crackers and fireworks. The magnitude of single scattering albedo (SSA(500)) decreases to a minimum value around 0.864 showing abundance of absorbing aerosols on Diwali affected days (19th and 20th October). A sudden jump of +12.9Wm(-2) in atmospheric radiative forcing resulting in a heating rate of up to 1.4Kday(-1) on next day of Diwali shows the warming state of the lower and middle atmosphere.
Rapid climate warming has resulted in shrub expansion, mainly of erect deciduous shrubs in the Low Arctic, but the more extreme, sparsely vegetated, cold and dry High Arctic is generally considered to remain resistant to such shrub expansion in the next decades. Dwarf shrub dendrochronology may reveal climatological causes of past changes in growth, but is hindered at many High Arctic sites by short and fragmented instrumental climate records. Moreover, only few High Arctic shrub chronologies cover the recent decade of substantial warming. This study investigated the climatic causes of growth variability of the evergreen dwarf shrub Cassiope tetragona between 1927 and 2012 in the northernmost polar desert at 83 degrees N in North Greenland. We analysed climate-growth relationships over the period with available instrumental data (1950-2012) between a 102-year-long C.tetragona shoot length chronology and instrumental climate records from the three nearest meteorological stations, gridded climate data, and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO) indices. July extreme maximum temperatures (JulT(emx)), as measured at Alert, Canada, June NAO, and previous October AO, together explained 41% of the observed variance in annual C.tetragona growth and likely represent insitu summer temperatures. JulT(emx) explained 27% and was reconstructed back to 1927. The reconstruction showed relatively high growing season temperatures in the early to mid-twentieth century, as well as warming in recent decades. The rapid growth increase in C.tetragona shrubs in response to recent High Arctic summer warming shows that recent and future warming might promote an expansion of this evergreen dwarf shrub, mainly through densification of existing shrub patches, at High Arctic sites with sufficient winter snow cover and ample water supply during summer from melting snow and ice as well as thawing permafrost, contrasting earlier notions of limited shrub growth sensitivity to summer warming in the High Arctic.