Taklimakan dust aerosol radiative heating derived from CALIPSO observations using the Fu-Liou radiation model with CERES constraints

Abstract

Abstract. The dust aerosol radiative forcing and heating rate over the Taklimakan Desert in Northwestern China in July 2006 are estimated using the Fu-Liou radiative transfer model along with satellite observations. The vertical distributions of the dust aerosol extinction coefficient are derived from the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) lidar measurements. The CERES (Cloud and the Earth's Energy Budget Scanner) measurements of reflected solar radiation are used to constrain the dust aerosol type in the radiative transfer model, which determines the dust aerosol single-scattering albedo and asymmetry factor as well as the aerosol optical properties' spectral dependencies. We find that the dust aerosols have a significant impact on the radiative energy budget over the Taklimakan desert. In the atmospheres containing light, moderate and heavy dust layers, the dust aerosols heat the atmosphere (daily mean) by up to 1, 2, and 3 K day −1 , respectively. The maximum daily mean radiative heating rate reaches 5.5 K day −1 at 5 km on 29 July. The averaged daily mean net radiative effect of the dust are 44.4, −41.9, and 86.3 W m −2 , respectively, at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), surface, and in the atmosphere. Among these effects about two thirds of the warming effect at the TOA is related to the longwave radiation, while about 90% of the atmospheric warming is contributed by the solar radiation. At the surface, about one third of the dust solar radiativeCorrespondence to: J. Huang (hjp@lzu.edu.cn) cooling effect is compensated by its longwave warming effect. The large modifications of radiative energy budget by the dust aerosols over Taklimakan Desert should have important implications for the atmospheric circulation and regional climate, topics for future investigations.

Consistent response of Indian summer monsoon to Middle East dust in observations and simulations

“…The area-averaged radiative forcing of dust over the entire domain is summarized in Table 4. By simple comparison of values in Table 4, we can conclude that a quarter to one-third of the SW radiative forcing is counterbalanced by LW radiative effects, which is consistent with a previous study (Huang et al, 2009). Figure 12 shows the ensemble means of cloud fraction responses (ALLF minus NDST) between various atmospheric layers to Middle East dust aerosols in JJA 2008.…”

Dust aerosol effect on semi-arid climate over Northwest China detected from A-Train satellite measurements

“…Both the AOD and AAI comparisons suggest that transported natural dust plays an important role in differentiating between the regions, although local aerosols are also quite different between the regions. Huang et al (2009) found that the single scattering albedo (SSA) of Taklamakan dust aerosols is about 0.89 at 0.67 µm which is about 6% less than for Saharan dust. Ge et al (2010) also confirmed that the SSA shows an increasing trend with wavelength, indicating stronger dust aerosol absorption at shorter wavelengths.…”

A case study of dust aerosol radiative properties over Lanzhou, China

“…Iwasaka et al, 2003;Yamada et al, 2005;Shen et al, 2006;Huang et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2002a). However few observations were carried out over the semiarid region of the Loess Plateau.…”