Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major reason for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. The central theme of this paper is to review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancy between results simulated by models, as well as that between simulations and observations will be presented. Specifically, this paper will address the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from large-scale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions on aerosol - precipitation interactions are suggested

RETRIEVAL OF TROPOSPHERIC AEROSOL PROPERTIES OVER LAND FROM INVERSION OF VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE: APPLICATION OVER MARYLAND

Aerosols are major components of the Earth's global climate system, affecting the radiation budget and cloud processes of the atmosphere. When located near the surface, high concentrations lead to lowered visibility, increased health problems and generally reduced quality of life for the human population. Over the United States mid-Atlantic region, aerosol pollution is a problem mainly during the summer. Satellites, such as the MODerate Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), from their vantage point above the atmosphere, provide unprecedented coverage of global and regional aerosols over land. During MODIS' eight-year operation, exhaustive data validation and analyses have shown how the algorithm should be improved. This dissertation describes the development of the 'second-generation' operational algorithm for retrieval of global tropospheric aerosol properties over dark land surfaces, from MODIS -observed spectral reflectance. New understanding about global aerosol properties, land surface reflectance characteristics, and radiative transfer properties were learned in the process. This new operational algorithm performs a simultaneous inversion of reflectance in two visible channels (0.47 and 0.66 μm) and one shortwave infrared channel (2.12 μm), thereby having increased sensitivity to coarse aerosol. Inversion of the three channels retrieves the aerosol optical depth (τ) at 0.55 μm, the percentage of non-dust (fine model) aerosol (η) and the surface reflectance. This algorithm is applied globally, and retrieves τ that is highly correlated (y = 0.02 + 1.0x, R=0.9) with ground-based sunphotometer measurements. The new algorithm estimates the global, over-land, long-term averaged τ ~ 0.21, a 25% reduction from previous MODIS estimates. This leads to reducing estimates of global, non-desert, over-land aerosol direct radiative effect (all aerosols) by 1.7 W·m-2 (0.5 W·m-2 over the entire globe), which significantly impacts assessment of aerosol direct radiative forcing (contribution from anthropogenic aerosols only). Over the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, validated retrievals of τ (an integrated column property) can help to estimate surface PM2.5 concentration, a monitored criteria air quality property. The 3-dimensional aerosol loading in the region is characterized using aircraft measurements and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) model, leading to some convergence of observed quantities and modeled processes

Earth Resources: A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 5, October 1975

This bibliography lists 601 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between January 1975 and March 1975. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis

Amélioration de la représentation des aérosols dans un modèle de chimie-transport : modélisation et assimilation de données

L'objectif général de cette thèse est d'améliorer la représentation des aérosols dans le modèle MOCAGE. Pour se faire, nous avons modifié directement la représentation des aérosols en réexaminant et améliorant les différents processus déjà présents via la prise en compte de schémas et de paramétrisations plus détaillés et implémenté l'assimilation de données des aérosols dans le modèle. Les processus ayant subi les améliorations les plus importantes sont les émissions des aérosols du type sel marin, poussière désertique et cendre volcanique, le dépôt humide et la sédimentation. Nous avons évalué les impacts de ces changements et comparé les champs modélisés avec des observations. Les modifications implémentées ont permis d'améliorer significativement l'accord entre modèle et observations. Comme approche complémentaire pour répondre à l'objectif de cette thèse, nous avons également implémenté dans le CTM MOCAGE l'assimilation de données des aérosols. Le système d'assimilation de données des aérosols est implémenté et il est capable d'assimiler l'épaisseur optique des aérosols (AOD) et les mesures lidar. L'assimilation des observations d'AOD est un outil efficace pour améliorer les performances du modèle en terme d'AOD et de concentration. L'assimilation de mesures lidar sur le signal ainsi que les coefficients de rétrodiffusion et d'extinction, ont montré un impact efficace sur les profils verticaux.The main goal of this thesis is to improve the aerosol representation in the CTM MOCAGE. The work may be divided into: the direct improvement of aerosol physical parameterizations, and the development of a data assimilation system able to assimilate aerosol optical depth (AOD) and lidar profiles. On the modelling side, the processes that underwent the important improvements were sea salt, desert dust and volcanic aerosol emissions, wet deposition and sedimentation. The ambition is related to improve the model biases compared to observations, and to implement more physically detailed schemes in the model. We evaluated the impacts of these changes and compared the modelled fields to observations. The implemented updates significantly enhanced the model agreement with the observations and the inter-model comparison data. The results also confirmed that large uncertainties in models can come from the use of different parameterizations. The aerosol data assimilation is implemented to further reduce the model uncertainties. The set of observation operators and their tangent linear and adjoint operators for AOD and lidar profile observations are developed to link the model and the observation space. Aerosol assimilation proved to be very efficient to reduce the differences between the model and the observations. The assimilated AOD observations were able to significantly improve the model performance in terms of AOD and concentrations. Assimilation of lidar measurements: the backscatter signal, the extinction and backscatter coefficients, also showed an efficient influence on the vertical profiles

From forests to the remote ocean to smoke plumes: aerosol microphysics in diverse environments

2020 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

Air Quality Monitoring, Assessment and Management

Human beings need to breathe oxygen diluted in certain quantity of inert gas for living. In the atmosphere, there is a gas mixture of, mainly, oxygen and nitrogen, in appropriate proportions. However, the air also contains other gases, vapours and aerosols that humans incorporate when breathing and whose composition and concentration vary spatially. Some of these are physiologically inert. Air pollution has become a problem of major concern in the last few decades as it has caused negative effects on human health, nature and properties. This book presents the results of research studies carried out by international researchers in seventeen chapters which can be grouped into two main sections: a) air quality monitoring and b) air quality assessment and management, and serves as a source of material for all those involved in the field, whether as a student, scientific researcher, industrialist, consultant, or government agency with responsibility in this area

Mechanisms of aerosol indirect effects on glaciated clouds simulated numerically

Various improvements were made to a state-of-the-art aerosol-cloud model and it was validated against observations from field campaigns. The robustness of this aerosol-cloud model is in its ability to explicitly resolve all the known modes of heterogeneous cloud droplet activation and ice crystal nucleation. The model links cloud particle activation with the aerosol loading and chemistry of seven different aerosol species. Continental and maritime cases were simulated for the purposes of validating the aerosol-cloud model, and investigating the salient microphysical and dynamical mechanisms of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) from anthropogenic solute and solid aerosols, focusing mainly on glaciated clouds. The results showed that increased solute aerosols reduced cloud particle sizes and inhibited warm rain processes, thus, enhancing chances of homogeneous cloud droplet and aerosol freezing. Cloud fractions and their optical thicknesses increased quite substantially in both cases. Although liquid mixing ratios were boosted, there was however a substantial reduction of ice mixing ratios in the upper troposphere owing to the increase in snow production aloft. Convective updrafts became weaker mainly in the continental case, while weak vertical velocities strengthened slightly in the upper troposphere. With an increase in solid aerosols, clouds became slightly more extensive over the continents, while the cloudiness diminished over the oceans. The total AIE of clouds from solute aerosols was two times higher in the oceanic than in the continental case, because the sensitivity of the cloud properties to perturbation in aerosol concentrations diminishes with increasing background aerosol concentrations. Also, the AIEs of glaciated clouds were greater than those of water-only clouds by a factor of two in the continental case while both cloud types were equally important in the maritime case. The radiative importance of glaciated clouds lied in their large collective spatial extent and existence above water-only clouds. The glaciation AIE from solid aerosols had a cooling effect in continental clouds because of an increase in cloud fraction and a warming effect in maritime clouds because of a decrease in cloud fraction. In addition to the traditional AIEs (glaciation, riming and thermodynamic), sedimentation, aggregation and coalescence were new AIEs identified. Importantly, it was discovered that these individual AIEs interact, compensate and buffer each other, hence, the relative importance of contributions from responses of various processes vary during the climate change. Finally, meteorology was identified to have little effect on the mechanisms of aerosol-cloud interaction