Abstract
Black carbon (BC) aerosol is a significant, short-lived climate forcing agent. To further understand the effects of BCs on the regional climate, the warming effects of BCs from residential, industrial, power and transportation emissions are investigated in Asian regions during summer using the state-of-the-art regional climate model RegCM4. BC emissions from these four sectors have very different rates and variations. Residential and industrial BCs account for approximately 85% of total BC emissions, while power BCs account for only approximately 0.19% in Asian regions during summer. An investigation suggests that both the BC aerosol optical depth (AOD) and direct radiative forcing (DRF) are highly dependent on emissions, while the climate effects show substantial nonlinearity to emissions. The total BCs AOD and clear-sky top of the atmosphere DRF averaged over East Asia (100–130°E, 20–50°N) are 0.02 and + 1.34 W/m2, respectively, during summer. Each sector’s BC emissions may result in a warming effect over the region, leading to an enhanced summer monsoon circulation and a subsequent local decrease (e.g., northeast China) or increase (e.g., south China) in rainfall in China and its surrounding regions. The near surface air temperature increased by 0.2 K, and the precipitation decreased by approximately 0.01 mm/day in east China due to the total BC emissions. The regional responses to the BC warming effects are highly nonlinear to the emissions, which may be linked to the influences of the perturbed atmospheric circulations and climate feedback. The nonuniformity of the spatial distribution of BC emissions may also have significant influences on climate responses, especially in south and east China. The results of this study could aid us in better understanding BC effects under different emission conditions and provide a scientific reference for developing a better BC reduction strategy over Asian regions.
Highlights
Black carbon (BC) aerosols have significant effects on climate at both regional and global scales due to the direct, semi-direct, indirect and snow albedo effects of BCs (Twomey 1974; Albrecht 1989; Forster et al 2007; Flanner et al 2007; Zhuang et al 2010; Wang et al 2011; Wilcox 2012; and others)
Climate in East Asia to some extent (Guo et al 2013; Zhou et al 2014; Song et al 2014; Wang et al 2015). Both observational and simulation-based studies have revealed that BCs are much more effective at reducing the amount of short wave solar radiation that reaches the surface than scattering aerosols, the loadings are an order of magnitude smaller (Forster et al 2007; IPCC 2013; Bond et al 2013; Zhuang et al 2014; Li et al 2016a)
We investigate the BC aerosol optical depth (AOD), direct radiative forcing (DRF) and corresponding climate responses from these sectors using a new version of the regional climate model RegCM4 (Giorgi et al 2012) combined with the Multiresolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC) (Li et al 2017)
Summary
Black carbon (BC) aerosols have significant effects on climate at both regional and global scales due to the direct, semi-direct, indirect and snow albedo effects of BCs (Twomey 1974; Albrecht 1989; Forster et al 2007; Flanner et al 2007; Zhuang et al 2010; Wang et al 2011; Wilcox 2012; and others). Climate in East Asia to some extent (Guo et al 2013; Zhou et al 2014; Song et al 2014; Wang et al 2015) Both observational and simulation-based studies have revealed that BCs are much more effective at reducing the amount of short wave solar radiation that reaches the surface than scattering aerosols, the loadings are an order of magnitude smaller (Forster et al 2007; IPCC 2013; Bond et al 2013; Zhuang et al 2014; Li et al 2016a). All these studies have illustrated the importance of BCs to regional climate, especially in high BC regions or in sensitive climate system areas
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