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Potential impacts of aerosol–land–atmosphere interactions on the Indian monsoonal rainfall characteristics

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Abstract

Aerosols can affect the cloud-radiation feedback and the precipitation over the Indian monsoon region. In this paper, we propose that another pathway by which aerosols can modulate the multi-scale aspect of Indian monsoons is by altering the land–atmosphere interactions. The nonlinear feedbacks due to aerosol/diffuse radiation on coupled interactions over the Indian monsoon region are studied by: (1) reviewing recent field measurements and modeling studies, (2) analyzing the MODIS and AERONET aerosol optical depth datasets, and (3) diagnosing the results from sensitivity experiments using a mesoscale modeling system. The results of this study suggest that the large magnitude of aerosol loading and its impact on land–atmosphere interactions can significantly influence the mesoscale monsoonal characteristics in the Indo-Ganges Basin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purdue University, 915 W State St., West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA

    Dev Niyogi, Hsin-I Chang & Anil Kumar

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1850 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO, 80305-560, USA

    Fei Chen & Anil Kumar

  3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Lianhong Gu

  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Surabi Menon

  5. University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309-0430, USA

    Roger A. Pielke Sr.

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  1. Dev Niyogi
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  2. Hsin-I Chang
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  3. Fei Chen
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  4. Lianhong Gu
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  5. Anil Kumar
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  6. Surabi Menon
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  7. Roger A. Pielke Sr.
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Correspondence to Dev Niyogi.

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Niyogi, D., Chang, HI., Chen, F. et al. Potential impacts of aerosol–land–atmosphere interactions on the Indian monsoonal rainfall characteristics. Nat Hazards 42, 345–359 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-006-9085-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-006-9085-y

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