Climate implications of large warming by elevated aerosol over India

Wide‐ranging multi‐platform data from a major field campaign conducted over Indian region was used to estimate the energy absorbed in ten layers of the atmosphere. We found that during pre‐monsoon season, most of Indian region is characterized by elevated aerosol layers. Three‐fold increase in aeros...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2008-10, Vol.35 (19), p.L19809-n/a
Main Authors: Satheesh, S. K., Moorthy, K. Krishna, Babu, S. Suresh, Vinoj, V., Dutt, C. B. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aerosols
Aerosols and particles
Atmospheric Composition and Structure
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Pollution
Radiation
transmission and scattering
urban and regional
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Summary:Wide‐ranging multi‐platform data from a major field campaign conducted over Indian region was used to estimate the energy absorbed in ten layers of the atmosphere. We found that during pre‐monsoon season, most of Indian region is characterized by elevated aerosol layers. Three‐fold increase in aerosol extinction coefficient was observed at higher atmospheric layers (>2 km) compared to that near the surface and a substantial fraction (as much as 50 to 70%) of aerosol optical depth was found contributed by aerosols above (reflecting) clouds. Consequent absorption and hence strong warming above clouds was found larger by several degrees (K) compared to that near the surface. The aerosol‐induced elevated warming was mostly confined below 2 km over northern Indian Ocean while found up to 4 km over central India, thus exhibiting strong meridional gradients (∼4 K) at atmospheric levels above 2 km. Climate implications of the large elevated warming are discussed.
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2008GL034944