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Changes in the mean zonal (a, averaged between 26 and 36°N) and meridional (b, averaged between 105 and 125°E) circulations over East Asia during summer due to the warming effects of the total, residential, industrial, power and transportation BCs. Shaded areas indicate responses of air temperature (K) in corresponding regions. The reference arrow scale 1 unit in the figure represents the wind anomaly in the horizontal wind (in m/s) and in the vertical motion (in − 5 × 10⁻³ Pa/s)
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Black carbon (BC) aerosol is a significant, short-lived climate forcing agent. To further understand the effects of BCs on the regional climate, the warming effects of BCs from residential, industrial, power and transportation emissions are investigated in Asian regions during summer using the state-of-the-art regional climate model RegCM4. BC emis...
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Abstract. In this work, we use Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulations from 10 Earth System Models (ESMs) and General Circulation Models (GCMs) to study the fast climate responses on pre-industrial climate, due to present-day aerosols. All models carried out two sets of simulations; a control experiment with all forcings s...
Aerosol mixtures, which are still unclear in current knowledge, may cause large uncertainties in aerosol climate effect assessments. To better understand this research gap, a well-developed online coupled regional climate-chemistry model is employed here to investigate the influences of different aerosol mixing states on the direct interactions bet...
The winter temperature in East Asia from 1958 to 2001 has shown an obvious warming trend superposed with a large amplitude of decadal oscillations. To separate the relative contributions of external forcing and internal variability to the decadal change in winter temperature, we propose a method which combines reanalysis data, global atmosphere‐oce...
To establish the direct climatic and environmental effect of anthropogenic aerosols in East Asia in winter under external, internal, and partial internal mixing (EM, IM and PIM) states, a well-developed regional climate–chemical model RegCCMS is used by carrying out sensitive numerical simulations. Different aerosol mixing states yield different ae...
In this work, we use Coupled Model Intercomparison
Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulations from 10 Earth system models (ESMs) and
general circulation models (GCMs) to study the fast climate responses on
pre-industrial climate, due to present-day aerosols. All models carried out
two sets of simulations: a control experiment with all forcings set to the...
Citations
... The warming covers parts of the high AOD loading regions region (20 -40 N), against the common consensus of aerosol surface cooling effect in numerous studies (Dong et al., 2022;Dong & Sutton, 2021;Takemura, 2012;Tian et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2021). However, the black carbon (BC) warming effect have a substantial contribution to an increase in lower air temperature near 800 hPa, especially in the regions with high BC loading (Zhuang et al., 2019). Additionally, note that L-EASJ is located over southern flank of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the significant warming could also be partially traced to the warming effect of absorbing aerosols (Jiang et al., 2017;Teng et al., 2012;Zhuang et al., 2018), for instance, the snow-albedo feedback of BC proposed by Jiang et al. (2017). ...
The changes in the East Asian polar‐front jet (EAPJ) and the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) profoundly impact the weather and climate in East Asia. However, the link between aerosols and the jet streams is still unclear. Here, we investigated the decadal co‐variation of aerosols and the East Asian jet streams in the boreal winter during the period of 1980–2019. In synch with a positive change in aerosol optical depth over East Asia, 300‐hPa winds show an equatorward shift of the land branch of the EASJ, and weakened EAPJ and oceanic branch of the EASJ. This can be linked to the enhanced meridional temperature gradient along 30°–50° N but weakened in northern regions and the decreasing synoptic‐scale transient eddy kinetic energy over subtropical Pacific. Relative importance estimation of aerosols and ocean signals emphasized the contributions of aerosols in jet variations. In turn, meteorological conditions related to jet streams also contribute to variations in aerosols, the decadal co‐variations are a result of their interactions, particularly for the oceanic branch of EASJ. The findings would be helpful in providing potential indicators of climate change.
... To meet the energy demand, fossil fuel-based sources are still a major contributor across the globe but at the expense of major role in global warming and climate change by emitting the greenhouse gases and BC into the earth system. Apart from the CO 2 (one of the greenhouse gasses), various studies establish the fact that BC also acts as a climate forcing agent (Alvarado et al., 2018;Singh et al., 2018;Takemura and Suzuki, 2019;Zhuang et al., 2019). Long-range transported BC deposited on snow and ice surfaces absorbs the solar radiation that causes the heating of the snow/ice surface as well as reducing the albedo effect with total forcing of 1.1 Wm − 2 (Bond et al., 2013). ...
... BCs are primarily generated in the atmosphere by incomplete combustion of fossil fuel and biomass (Zhuang et al., 2019). The source apportionment of BC can be calculated with the help of an Aethalometer with deposited aerosol at the filter (Fuller et al., 2014;Petzold et al., 2013). ...
In this study, we concurrently determined the combined ratio of black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in two distinct cities in eastern India: Jamshedpur (JSR) and Kharagpur (KGP). The investigation spanned from October 2019 to January 2020, revealing BC mass concentrations of 10.06 (± 1.59) µg m⁻³ in JSR and 5.49 (± 1.15) µg m⁻³ in KGP. Additionally, the average CO concentrations measured were approximately 913.63 (± 217.85) ppbv in JSR and 507.31 (± 125.06) ppbv in KGP. Analysis of GIOVANNI NASA satellite data highlighted elevated concentrations of BC and CO in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), the foothills of the central Himalayas, and the eastern region of India. Utilizing diagnostic ratio analysis to attribute the sources of BC, we found that wood-burning contributed more significantly to the BC levels in KGP compared to JSR. The higher overall aerosol concentration in JSR was attributed to the prevalence of numerous industries and heavy traffic. Pearson correlation analysis indicated substantial correlations between BC–CO and BC–PM2.5, with correlation coefficients of r² = 0.65 and r² > 0.96, respectively. These results underscore the need for significant changes to be implemented, such as transitioning to alternative appliances that do not rely on fossil fuels. By adopting cleaner and more sustainable energy sources, we can effectively mitigate the adverse impacts of BC, PM2.5, and CO emissions on air quality and public health. Air back-trajectory analysis unveiled the predominant northward transmission of pollution from northern India. Additionally, air masses originating from neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan also contributed to the pollution levels. Health risk assessments revealed estimated non-cancerous particulate health risks (Npsc) ranging from 6.27 to 25.6 in JSR and 2.02 to 8.28 in KGP, emphasizing potential health implications associated with BC exposure in the two cities.
... Studies highlighted links between heavy aerosol loading and health problems and agriculture troubles [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Absorbing aerosols are major pollutants that can absorb downward solar radiation in the atmosphere, radiative forcing of which is believed to play a profound role in Earth's radiative balance and climate change [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], namely aerosol direct effects (ADE) [32,33]. The ADE of absorbing aerosols generally heats the atmosphere but cools the surface via the absorption of the downward solar radiation, thus changing the thermal-dynamic field and the hydrological cycle in different ways. ...
... W m −2 , and it was indicated that the BC DRF based on previous studies might be underestimated by a factor of 3 [42]. The ranges were larger at regional scales, especially in polluted urban areas such as East Asia, where BC DRF reaches up to 10 0 W m −2 [30,31,[43][44][45][46]. Emphasis was placed on estimating the photolysis reaction rate changes induced by ADE using laboratory measurement and model simulation since the 1990s [37,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. ...
... The UV DRF of absorbing aerosols are shown in Figure 5, where the UV-A band covered 320-400 nm and the UV-B band covered 290-320 nm. It was indicated that the UV DRF of absorbing aerosols at the surface was approximately 2-3 times stronger than that at TOA (Figure 5a-d), which was also found in [30,31]. Furthermore, the DRF of absorbing aerosols in the UV-A band was far greater than that in the UV-B band (Figure 5a-d). ...
Absorbing aerosols have significant influences on tropospheric photochemistry and regional climate change. Here, the direct radiative effects of absorbing aerosols at the major AERONET sites in East Asia and corresponding impacts on near-surface photochemical processes were quantified by employing a radiation transfer model. The average annual aerosol optical depth (AOD) of sites in China, Korea, and Japan was 1.15, 1.02 and 0.94, respectively, and the corresponding proportion of absorbing aerosol optical depth (AAOD) was 8.61%, 6.69%, and 6.49%, respectively. The influence of absorbing aerosol on ultraviolet (UV) radiation mainly focused on UV-A band (315–400 nm). Under the influence of such radiative effect, the annual mean near-surface J[NO2] (J[O1D]) of sites in China, Korea, and Japan decreased by 16.95% (22.42%), 9.61% (13.55%), and 9.63% (13.79%), respectively. In Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, the annual average AOD was 1.48 and 1.29, and the AAOD was 0.14 and 0.13, respectively. The UV radiative forcing caused by aerosols dominated by black carbon (BC-dominated aerosols) on the surface was −3.19 and −2.98 W m−2, respectively, accounting for about 40% of the total aerosol radiative forcing, indicating that the reduction efficiency of BC-dominated aerosols on solar radiation was higher than that of other types of aerosols. The annual mean J[NO2] (J[O1D]) decreased by 14.90% (20.53%) and 13.71% (18.20%) due to the BC-dominated aerosols. The daily maximum photolysis rate usually occurred near noon due to the diurnal variation of solar zenith angle and, thus, the daily average photolysis rate decreased by 2–3% higher than that average during 10:00–14:00.
... Carbonaceous aerosols which include elemental carbon (EC)/black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) greatly alter the Earth's energy budget, and thus contributes to the changing climate (Bond et al. 2007;Zhang and Wang 2011;Gao et al. 2022). BC is second largest atmospheric component that contributes to current global warming due to its positive direct radiative effects (Ramanathan and Carmichael 2008;Zhuang et al. 2019;Slater et al. 2022). BC negatively impacts the Earth's climate (Ramanathan et al. 2005;Zhuang et al. 2019), hydrological cycle (Krishnamohan et al. 2021), crop yield (Burney and Ramanathan 2014;Zhang et al. 2017) and human health (Shindell et al. 2012;Burney et al. 2022). ...
... BC is second largest atmospheric component that contributes to current global warming due to its positive direct radiative effects (Ramanathan and Carmichael 2008;Zhuang et al. 2019;Slater et al. 2022). BC negatively impacts the Earth's climate (Ramanathan et al. 2005;Zhuang et al. 2019), hydrological cycle (Krishnamohan et al. 2021), crop yield (Burney and Ramanathan 2014;Zhang et al. 2017) and human health (Shindell et al. 2012;Burney et al. 2022). In the lower troposphere, BC can mix with Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) that decreases cloud albedo which further leads to regional and global variations in the hydrological cycle (Reid et al. 2013;Krishnamohan et al. 2021;Gao et al. 2022). ...
... BC is emitted in the atmosphere by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass burning, vehicular and industrial emissions (Bond et al. 2007;Saarikoski et al. 2008;Zhuang et al. 2019). The results derived from the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) (Ramanathan et al. 2002) revealed the presence of an atmospheric brown cloud (ABC). ...
The black carbon (BC) aerosol is the organic remanence of the incomplete burning of various fuels. The study attempts to analyse the temporal variability of BC over Ranchi, Jharkhand, India using ground based measurements of aethalometer. The diurnal variation reveals two prominent sharp peaks throughout the year, one in the morning hours (0130-0330 UTC) and other in the evening hours (1330-1530 UTC). The results show a marked seasonal variation in BC concentration, with highest value during the pre-monsoon (7.24 µg/m3) and least in the monsoon (2.01 µg/m3) season. The relationship of meteorological variables such as temperature, precipitation, aerosol optical depth (AOD), organic carbon and vegetation represented via Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with BC is also computed using satellite-based measurements. A significant correlation is in the spatial pattern of organic carbon (r = 0.927), AOD (r = 0.86) and temperature (r = 0.748) with BC, whereas precipitation (r = − 0.146) and NDVI (r = − 0.203) shows insignificant correlation with BC. Significantly higher level of BC concentration (11.95 µg/m3) in response to the fog event is observed throughout the day against lower (6.5 µg/m3) BC in winter. The morning peak is increased by 4.71 µg/m3 and delayed by two hours on foggy day than the winter mean. During the thunder squall event, mean BC is reduced to 3.84 µg/m3 from 7.24 µg/m3 in pre-monsoon. Similar reduction is also observed in mean BC (1.2 µg/m3) in response to a rainy day during monsoon. The variability in BC is key to the changes in AOD that impacts the air quality, energy balance, cloud-precipitation processes, global warming and climate change.
... Consequently, the heating effect is generally observed from Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. (Kostrykin et al., 2021) and from anthropogenic sources (Zhuang et al., 2019). Sometimes a cooling effect is also detected (Ma et al., 2018). ...
... These hotspots might be co-aligned with the BC impacts at certain locations, as the BC influence is known for its localising effects with no clear direct link between the pattern of forcing and the pattern of temperature change (Modak and Bala, 2019). Overall, regardless of the emissions source, the direct radiative forcing and the consequent air temperature increase were estimated for BC by different studies (Ma et al., 2018;Zhuang et al., 2019;Kostrykin et al., 2021), and the cooling effects were also detected (Ma et al., 2018). In combination with other aerosol types, the effects on the radiative forcing are also variable (Kirkevåg et al., 1999). ...
Biomass burning is one of the biggest sources of atmospheric black carbon (BC), which negatively impacts human health and contributes to climate forcing. In this work, we explore the horizontal and vertical variability of BC concentrations over Ukraine during wildfires in August 2010. Using the Enviro-HIRLAM modelling framework, the BC atmospheric transport was modelled for coarse, accumulation, and Aitken mode aerosol particles emitted by the wildfire. Elevated pollution levels were observed within the boundary layer. The influence of the BC emissions from the wildfire was identified up to 550 hPa level for the coarse and accumulation modes and at distances of about 2000 km from the fire areas. BC was mainly transported in the lowest 3 km layer and mainly deposited at night and in the morning hours due to the formation of strong surface temperature inversions. As modelling is the only available source of BC data in Ukraine, our results were compared with ground-level measurements of dust, which showed an increase in concentration of up to 73 % during wildfires in comparison to average values. The BC contribution was found to be 10 %–20 % of the total aerosol mass near the wildfires in the lowest 2 km layer. At a distance, BC contribution exceeded 10 % only in urban areas. In the areas with a high BC content represented by both accumulation and coarse modes, downwelling surface long-wave radiation increased up to 20 W m−2, and 2 m air temperature increased by 1–4 ∘C during the midday hours. The findings of this case study can help to understand the behaviour of BC distribution and possible direct aerosol effects during anticyclonic conditions, which are often observed in mid-latitudes in the summer and lead to wildfire occurrences.
... Therefore, the warming effect of CO 2 could be considerably offset in some regions. In contrast, absorbing aerosols (e.g., dust, BC) could induce a more unstable atmosphere, result in regional warming and flooding, and play an essential role in pollution development (Menon et al. 2002;Zhuang et al. 2013bZhuang et al. , 2019Peng et al. 2016;Ding et al. 2016). Moreover, BC absorption would intensify regional-to global-scale warming, and its warming effect is thought to be surpassed only by CO 2 (Jacobson, 2002). ...
Aerosol mixtures, which are still unclear in current knowledge, may cause large uncertainties in aerosol climate effect assessments. To better understand this research gap, a well-developed online coupled regional climate-chemistry model is employed here to investigate the influences of different aerosol mixing states on the direct interactions between aerosols and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM). The results show that anthropogenic aerosols have high-level loadings with heterogeneous spatial distributions in East Asia. Black carbon aerosol loading accounts for more than 13% of the totals in this region in summer. Thus, different aerosol mixing states cause very different aerosol single scattering albedos, with a variation of 0.27 in East Asia in summer. Consequently, the sign of the aerosol instantaneous direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere is changed, varying from − 0.95 to + 1.50 W/m ² with increasing internal mixing aerosols. The influence of aerosol mixtures on regional climate responses seems to be weaker. The EASM circulation can be enhanced due to the warming effect of anthropogenic aerosols in the lower atmosphere, which further induces considerable aerosol accumulation associated with dynamic field anomaly, decrease in rainfall and so on, despite aerosol mixtures. However, this interaction between aerosols and the EASM will become more obvious if the aerosols are more mixed internally. Additionally, the differences in aerosol-induced EASM anomalies during the strongest and weakest monsoon index years are highly determined by the aerosol mixing states. The results here may further help us better address the environmental and climate change issues in East Asia.
... For example, aerosol-cloud interactions could lead to additional surface cooling, which could then counteract the warming due to reductions in albedo. Other studies have reported a significant reduction in cloudiness and precipitation due to absorbing aerosols over China, but have not focused on snowfall in winter (Zhuang et al., 2013(Zhuang et al., , 2019. ...
Since 2013, Chinese policies have dramatically reduced emissions of particulates and their gas‐phase precursors, but the implications of these reductions for aerosol‐radiation interactions are unknown. Using a global, coupled chemistry‐climate model, we examine how the radiative impacts of Chinese air pollution in the winter months of 2012 and 2013 affect local meteorology and how these changes may, in turn, influence surface concentrations of PM2.5, particulate matter with diameter <2.5 μm. We then investigate how decreasing emissions through 2016 and 2017 alter this impact. We find that absorbing aerosols aloft in winter 2012 and 2013 heat the middle‐ and lower troposphere by ∼0.5–1 K, reducing cloud liquid water, snowfall, and snow cover. The subsequent decline in surface albedo appears to counteract the ∼15–20 W m⁻² decrease in shortwave radiation reaching the surface due to attenuation by aerosols overhead. The net result of this novel cloud‐snowfall‐albedo feedback in winters 2012–2013 is a slight increase in surface temperature of ∼0.5–1 K in some regions and little change elsewhere. The aerosol heating aloft, however, stabilizes the atmosphere and decreases the seasonal mean planetary boundary layer (PBL) height by ∼50 m. In winter 2016 and 2017, the ∼20% decrease in mean PM2.5 weakens the cloud‐snowfall‐albedo feedback, though it is still evident in western China, where the feedback again warms the surface by ∼0.5–1 K. Regardless of emissions, we find that aerosol‐radiation interactions enhance mean surface PM2.5 pollution by 10%–20% across much of China during all four winters examined, mainly though suppression of PBL heights.
... The complex interaction of Asian dust with anthropogenic pollutants plays a vital role in modifying regional and global climate (Tian et al., 2020). Various uncertainties involved regarding the optical, physicochemical, morphological, and hygroscopic properties of complex aerosol mixture further challenge the accurate estimation of radiative effects (Misra et al., 2014;Schwartz & Andreae, 1996;Zhuang et al., 2019). Mixed dust plumes with air pollutants may lead to brownish haze having a Fig. 7 The 4-cluster solutions to monthly resolved HYSPLIT backward trajectories arriving above Dehradun at 500 m agl, for the months of April, May, June, and July 2020, respectively Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
Recently, black carbon (BC) has been identified as a potential transmitter for COVID-19 besides being responsible for climate change and serious health hazards. To mitigate the dreaded consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India declared a nationwide lockdown on March 24, 2020. Accordingly, observations on equivalent black carbon (EBC) aerosols using AE 51 Aethalometer were performed during different lockdowns in Doon Valley. During April, May, June, and July, the monthly average EBC mass concentration recorded 2.12 ± 1.14 μg m⁻³, 2.58 ± 1.46 μg m⁻³, 2.74 ± 1.49 μg m⁻³, and 2.12 ± 1.32 μg m⁻³, respectively. A comparison of diurnal variation patterns with earlier studies indicates a significant reduction in EBC mass concentration levels. Bipolar NWR analysis for April and May depicts that relatively high EBC concentration was experienced with prominent south-easterly winds. The EBC concentration level during daytime was high compared to nighttime hours. Preliminary visualization of scanning electron micrographs indicates the variable morphology of aerosols. The bulk particle EDX spectral analysis indicates C, O, Na, F, Al, Si, K, Ca, and Ti elements with a dominance of C and O. Windblown dust seems to be the major contributor to the ambient aerosols. Furthermore, MODIS recorded the fire anomaly (attributed to the wheat stubble burning) starting from mid of April to early-June along the Indo-Gangetic Basin. Heavy loading of polluted aerosols was visible in CALIPSO data imageries. HYSPLIT cluster trajectories indicate that the study region is strongly influenced by the air mass transporting from the Gangetic Plain, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Gulf region.
... In general, the ADEs caused a reduction of SWR at surface, T2, and PBLH compared the simulation with and without inclusion of aerosol feedback (Fig. S4), especially in winter. It was also indicated that the influences of ADEs on meteorological factors peak in winter (Qiu et al., 2017;Zhang et al., 2018;Zhuang et al., 2019). Hence, the ADEs enhanced the surface-level air temperature, reduced PBLH, and heated the upper-level air temperature, which were demonstrated by previous studies Huang et al., 2018;Wang et al., 2021;Xing et al., 2015a;Zhang et al., 2018). ...
Aerosol direct effects (ADEs) can modulate shortwave radiation as well as atmospheric dynamics and air quality. As the key absorbing component of aerosol, the black carbon (BC) largely determines the aerosol optical properties. Therefore, it is expected that BC emission controls might gain co-benefits from the simultaneous reduction of ADEs. To demonstrate such synergy, here we quantified the ADEs changes and the role of BC controls in China during 2013–2017 using a regional two-way coupled meteorology chemistry transport model. Simulated results suggest that the control action effectively reduced the wintertime PM2.5 concentration (−26.0 μg m⁻³) and associated ADEs. In January, the influence of ADEs on surface shortwave radiation, 2-meter temperature, and planetary boundary layer height was weakened from −16.7 W m⁻², −0.20 °C, and −15.4 m in 2013 to −11.3 W m⁻², −0.06 °C, and −10.7 m in 2017, respectively. The enhancement of SO2, NO2, and PM2.5 concentrations due to ADEs was reduced from +3.1%, +5.2%, and +5.4% in 2013 to +2.6%, +4.5%, and +3.3% in 2017, respectively, demonstrating the extra benefit of air pollution controls for improving air quality by reducing ADEs. Meanwhile, the BC emission reduced by 12.5% simultaneously along with the effective controls on SO2 and NO2 emissions during 2013–2017, mainly from domestic combustion (−11.7%), resulting in 30.3% (−0.9 μg m⁻³) reduction of BC concentration. Such BC controls contributed 15.6–60.2% of such changes in the ADEs influence on meteorological variables, and 32.6–41.1% on air pollutants. More specially, the effectiveness of collaborative reduction of BC further reduced surface shortwave radiation in China by 3.6 W m⁻² in January and 1.0 W m⁻² in July, leading to a more weakened ADEs that bring extra benefits in reducing PM2.5 concentrations by 1.8 μg m⁻³ in January and 0.3 μg m⁻³ in July. Apparently, BC played an important role in modulating the ADEs and associated influences on meteorology and air quality, suggesting a wise control strategy by targeting absorbing component of PM2.5 reduction to address both air pollution and climate change in the future.
