Aerosol temporal characteristics and its impact on shortwave radiative forcing at a location in the northeast of India

Abstract

Measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and mass concentration of composite and black carbon (BC) aerosols made with collocated instruments over Dibrugarh in Northeast India are used to estimate the aerosol radiative forcing for the period June 2008 to May 2009. AOD shows seasonal variation with maximum in premonsoon (0.69 ± 0.13 at 500 nm in March 2009) and minimum in the retreating monsoon (0.08 ± 0.01 at 500 nm in October 2008). Ångström coefficients α and β are highest in monsoon and premonsoon season and are lowest in premonsoon and retreating monsoon, respectively. The size segregated mass concentration is minimum in the monsoon season for all the three modes nucleation, accumulation, and coarse and maximum in winter for accumulation and coarse and in premonsoon for nucleation mode. The BC mass concentration is highest 16.3 ± 1.4 μg m−3 in winter and lowest 3.4 ± 0.9 μg m−3 in monsoon. The estimated aerosol radiative forcing of the atmosphere, using Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) outputs as inputs for Santa Barbara Discrete Ordinate Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART), is maximum in premonsoon followed by that in winter and minimum in retreating monsoon. Negative forcing is observed at the surface, whereas the top of the atmosphere (TOA) forcing is nearly zero in retreating monsoon and is negative in rest of the seasons. The forcing efficiency and heating rate were highest during winter and premonsoon, respectively.