Nonlinear effects of anthropogenic aerosol and urban land surface forcing on spring climate in eastern China

Abstract

AbstractAnthropogenic aerosols and urban land cover change induce opposite thermal effects on the atmosphere near surface as well as in the troposphere. One can think of these anthropogenic effects as composed of two parts: the individual effect due to an individual anthropogenic forcing and the nonlinear effects resulting from the coexistence of two forcing factors. In this study, we explored the role of such nonlinear effects in affecting East Asian climate, as well as individual forcing effects, using the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.1 coupled with the Community Land Model version 4. Atmospheric responses were simulated by including anthropogenic aerosol emission only, urban cover only, or the combination of the two, over eastern China. Results showed that nonlinear responses were different from any effects by an individual forcing or the linear combination of individual responses. The nonlinear interaction could generate cold horizontal temperature advection to cool the troposphere, which induced anomalous subsidence along the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). This anomalous vertical motion, together with a weakened low‐level southwesterly, favored below‐normal (above‐normal) rainfall over the YRV (southern China), shifting the spring rain belt southward. The resultant diabatic cooling, in turn, amplified the anomalous descent and further decreased tropospheric temperature over the YRV, forming a positive feedback loop to maintain the nonlinear effects. Consequently, the nonlinear effects acted to reduce the climate anomalies from a simple linear combination of two individual effects and played an important role in regional responses to one anthropogenic forcing when the other is prescribed.