Estimation of aerosol radiative forcing over an aged-background aerosol feature during advection and non-advection events using a ground-based data obtained from a Prede Skyradiometer observation

Abstract

Estimation of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) was performed using a radiative transfer model (Rstar6b) along with physical and optical parameters of aerosols obtained from sky radiometer observation over Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle, Ladakh, during 2008–2010 from dust, anthropogenic, and aged background observing conditions. ARF was estimated at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), in the atmosphere, and at the surface during the three observing conditions. During dust and anthropogenic events, average aerosol optical depth (AOD at 500nm) went up to 0.24 from the aged background observing condition 0.04. Such enhancement of AOD is associated by the combination of desert-dust and anthropogenic aerosols transported from distant sources as noticed from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). Such three types of aerosols are also identified from the observed properties of single scattering albedo (SSA), aerosol asymmetry (AS) parameter, and aerosol size distribution. The estimated ARFs at TOA, at the surface, and in atmosphere are −3.73, −6.82, and 3.40Wm−2, respectively during the dust advection period. On the contrary, the respective ARFs during the aged background observing condition are −1.50, −2.22, and 0.70Wm−2, respectively. A significant difference of spectral AOD is observed during dust, anthropogenic, and aged background observing conditions. Ångström exponent (AE) decreases from 1.05 in the aged background observing condition to 0.40 in the dust event. A significant difference of coarse–fine mode volume distribution is also observed between the dust and the anthropogenic cases. Further, the study reveals high aerosols induced during the dust and the anthropogenic episodes caused warming at atmosphere and cooling at surface which collectively may affect the local atmospheric circulation.