Abstract
A regional climate model is employed to simulate the aerosols (dust, sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon) and their direct effect on the climate over China. The emphasis is on the direct radiative forcing due to the change in mixing state of aerosols. The results show that direct radiative forcing is significantly different between externally and internally mixed aerosols. At the top of the atmosphere (TOA), the radiative forcing of externally mixed aerosols is larger than that of internally mixed ones, especially in the Tarim desert region where the difference is about 0.7 W m−2. At the surface, however, the situation becomes opposite, especially in the Sichuan basin where the difference is about −1.4 W m−2. Nonetheless, either externally or internally mixed aerosols in China can result in a significant cooling effect, except for the warming in South China in winter and the slight warming in North China in February. The cooling effect induced by externally mixed aerosols is weaker than that induced by internally mixed aerosols, and this is more obvious in spring and winter than in summer and autumn. In spring and summer, the inhibiting effect of externally mixed aerosols on precipitation is less than that of internally mixed aerosols, whereas in autumn and winter the difference is not obvious.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackerman, A. S., O. B. Toon, D. E. Stevens, et al., 2000: Reduction of tropical cloudiness by soot. Science, 288, 1042–1047.
Chung, C. E., V. Ramanathan, G. Carmichael, et al., 2010: Anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing in Asia derived from regional models with atmospheric and aerosol data assimilation. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 6007–6024.
Chung, S. H., and J. H. Seinfeld, 2002: Global distribution and climate forcing of carbonaceous aerosols. J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4407, doi: 10.1029/2001JD001397.
Cooke, W. F., V. Ramaswamy, and P. Kasibhatla, 2002: A general circulation model study of the global carbonaceous aerosol distribution. J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4279, doi: 10.1029/2001JD001274.
Duan Jing and Mao Jietai, 2008: The effect of aerosols on precipitation in North China. Chinese Sci. Bull., 53(23), 2947–2955. (in Chinese)
Fuller, K. A., W. C. Malm, and S. M. Kreidenweis, 1999: Effects of mixing on extinction by carbonaceous particles. J. Geophys. Res., 104(15), 941–954.
Gu, Y., K. N. Liou, Y. Xue, et al., 2006: Climatic effects of different aerosol types in China simulated by the UCLA general circulation model. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D15201, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006312.
Huang Honglian, Huang Yinbo, Han Yong, et al., 2007: Light extinction properties of marine aerosol particles in internal mixing state. J. Atmos. Environ. Opt., 2(3), 1066–1070. (in Chinese)
Jacobson, M. Z., 2000: A physically-based treatment of elemental carbon optics: Implication for global direct forcing of aerosols. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27(2), 217–220.
—, 2001a: Strong radiative heating due to the mixing state of black carbon in atmospheric aerosols. Nature, 409, 695–697.
—, 2001b: Global direct radiative forcing due to multicomponent anthropogenic and natural aerosols. J. Geophys. Res., 106, 1551–1568.
Kim, D., C. Wang, A. M. L. Ekman, et al., 2008: Distribution and direct radiative forcing of carbonaceous and sulfate aerosols in an interactive size resolving aerosol-climate model. J. Geophys. Res., 113, 16309, doi: 10.1029/2007JD009756.
Koch, D., 2001: The transport and direct radiative forcing of carbonaceous and sulfate aerosols in the GISS GCM. J. Geophys. Res., 106, 20311–20332.
Novakov, T., D. A. Hegg, and P. V. Hobbs, 1997: Airborne measurements of carbonaceous aerosols on the east coast of the United States. J. Geophys. Res., 102, 30023–30030.
Satheesh, S. K., J. Srinivasan, V. Vinoj, et al., 2006: New directions: How representative are aerosol radiative impact assessments? Atmos. Environ., 40, 3008–3010.
Schnaiter, M., H. Horvath, O. Mohler, et al., 2003: UVVIS-NIR spectral optical properties of soot and soot-containing aerosols. J. Aerosol Sci., 34(10), 1421–1444.
Schwarz, J. P., J. R. Spackman, D. W. Fahey, et al., 2008: Coatings and their enhancement of black carbon light absorption in the tropical atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 113, 03203, doi: 10.1029/2007JD009042.
Stier, P., H. Seinfeld, S. Kinne, et al., 2006: Impact of nonabsorbing anthropogenic aerosols on clear-sky atmosphere absorption. J. Geophys. Res., 111, 18201, doi: 10.1029/2006JD007147.
Vester, B. P., M. Ebert, E. B. Barnert, et al., 2007: Composition and mixing state of the urban background aerosol in the Rhein-Main Area (Germany). Atmos. Environ., 41, 6102–6115.
Wang, C., 2004: A modeling study on the climate impact of black carbon aerosols. J. Geophys. Res., 109, doi: 10.1029/2003JD004084.
Worringen, A., M. Ebert, T. Trautmann, et al., 2008: Optical properties of internally mixed ammonium sulfate and soot particles: A study of individual aerosol particles and ambient aerosol populations. Appl. Opt., 47(21), 3835–3845.
Yang, W., 2003: Improved recursive algorithm for light scattering by a multilayered sphere. Appl. Opt., 42(9), 1710–1720.
Zhang Hua, Ma Jinghui, and Zheng Youfei, 2010: Modeling study of the global distribution of radiative forcing by dust aerosol. Acta Meteor. Sinica, 24(5), 558–570.
Zhang Li, Liu Hongnian, and Zhang Ning, 2011: Impacts of internally and externally mixed anthropogenic sulfate. Acta Meteor. Sinica, 25(5), 639–658.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Supported by the National Basic Research and Development (973) Program of China (2011CB403405) and National Science and Technology Support Program of China (2008BAC40B02).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, Y., Niu, S., Zhang, H. et al. Regional climate effects of internally and externally mixed aerosols over China. Acta Meteorol Sin 27, 110–118 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0111-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0111-1