Abstract
Impact of dust storms on the aerosol characteristics and radiative forcing over Patiala, northwestern India has been studied during April-June of 2010 using satellite observations and ground-based measurements. Six dust events (DE) have been identified during the study period with average values of Aqua-MODIS AOD550and Microtops-II AOD500over Patiala as1.00±0.51and0.84±0.41, respectively while Aura-OMI AI exhibits high values ranging from 2.01 to 6.74. The Ångström coefficients α380–870and β range from 0.12 to 0.31 and 0.95 to 1.40, respectively. The measured spectral AODs, the OPAC-derived aerosol properties and the surface albedo obtained from MODIS were used as main inputs in SBDART model for the calculation of aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) over Patiala. The ARF at surface (SRF) and top of atmosphere (TOA) ranges from ∼−50 to −100 Wm−2and from ∼−10 to −25 Wm−2, respectively during the maximum of dust storms. The radiative forcing efficiency was found to be −66 Wm−2AOD−1at SRF and −14 Wm−2AOD−1at TOA. High values of ARF in the atmosphere (ATM), ranging between ∼+40 Wm−2and +80.0 Wm−2during the DE days, might have significant effect on the warming of the lower and middle atmosphere and, hence, on climate over northwestern India.
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