The Tambora eruption in 1815 provides a test on possible global climatic and chemical perturbations in the past

A coupled one-dimensional radiative-convective-photochemical diffusion model, which takes into account the influence of ocean inertia on global radiative perturbations is used to investigate the possible climatic and other atmospheric effects of a major volcanic eruption, thought to be similar in magnitude to that of the Tambora eruption, Indonesia, which took place in 1815. A volcanic cloud was introduced in the model stratosphere between 20–25 km and the global average peak aerosol optical thickness was assumed to be 0.25. Both the aerosol optical thickness and aerosol composition, which determine the optical properties, were allowed to vary in the model atmosphere during the life cycle of the volcanic cloud. The results indicate that the global average surface temperature decreases steadily from the date of eruption (7–12 April 1815) with maximum cooling of 1° K occurring in the spring of 1816. The calculations also show significant warming of the stratosphere, with temperature increasing up to 15° K at 25 km in less than six months after the date of eruption. The important effects of the Tambora eruption on stratospheric ozone and UV-B radiation at the surface are also mentioned.     

Radiative forcing by contrails

A parametric study of the instantaneous radiative impact of contrails is presented using three different radiative transfer models for a series of model atmospheres and cloud parameters. Contrails are treated as geometrically and optically thin plane parallel homogeneous cirrus layers in a static atmosphere. The ice water content is varied as a function of ambient temperature. The model atmospheres include tropical, mid-latitude, and subarctic summer and winter atmospheres. Optically thin contrails cause a positive net forcing at top of the atmosphere. At the surface the radiative forcing is negative during daytime. The forcing increases with the optical depth and the amount of contrail cover. At the top of the atmosphere, a mean contrail cover of 0.1% with average optical depth of 0.2 to 0.5 causes about 0.01 to 0.03 Wm⁻² daily mean instantaneous radiative forcing. Contrails cool the surface during the day and heat the surface during the night, and hence reduce the daily temperature amplitude. The net effect depends strongly on the daily variation of contrail cloud cover. The indirect radiative forcing due to particle changes in natural cirrus clouds may be of the same magnitude as the direct one due to additional cover.     

Preliminary comparison of trace metals in coastal aerosols between Qingdao and Liverpool

Aerosol samples were collected at two coastal suburban stations, Qingdao （China） in 1995-1996 and Liverpool （U.K.） in 1995, respectively. The samples were analyzed to determine the concentrations of trace metals （Cr, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Pb, V, and Cd） as well as A1, Fe and Mn. Data were examined to understand the difference of trace metals in aerosols between coastal zones downwind the developing area （near the Yellow Sea） and developed region （near the Irish Sea）. The results show that most elements at Qingdao have levels 4-5 times higher than those at Liverpool, particularly for the crust-dominated elements （e.g. Al, Fe and Mn）. Moreover, the aerosol composition at Qingdao is higher in spring than in summer, underlying the influence of westerlies and local emissions in combination, whereas seasonal change of aerosol composition is not significant at Liverpool. The enrichment factors for the crustal source elements （EFcrust） at Liverpool are much higher than those at Qingdao. The contributions from the pollutant source （Rp） for some trace metals like Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd are 〉90% at Qingdao and Liverpool, suggesting overwhelming anthropogenic contributions to these metals. The contributions from crustal source （Re） for trace metals tend to increase with higher aerosol levels and Al concentration at Qingdao, indicating a good correlation between the crust-dominated component and the air mass. At Liverpool, the Rc values for trace metals are positively correlated with Al concentrations instead of with aerosol mass, suggesting that Al in aerosols represents the crustal component even though the aerosols come from different sources.     

A summer and winter apportionment of particulate matter at urban and rural areas in northern France

The apportionment of atmospheric aerosols undertaken in Northern France during two sampling campaigns allowed to determine the influence of the atmospheric contribution of a heavy industrialized urban center on the particulate matter composition at a nearby rural site. The concentrations of major components and trace elements sampled by bulk filtration have been determined on June–July 2000 and January–February 2001, and the comparison of these two campaigns shows very well the importance of wind directions. The sources of 10 trace elements (Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, Pb, Sr, Ti and Zn) and 7 major components (Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, NH₄⁺, Na, Mg and Ca) are better identified by studying their elemental contribution at each sampling site according to wind sectors. This kind of study shows that the concentrations recorded at the urban sampling site are always higher than those observed at the rural site as well during the summer campaign (about + 35%) as during the winter campaign (+ 90%), because of the predominance of the W–NW wind sector, corresponding to the influence of the urban and industrialized areas.     

Origin of calcium in aerosols over the western North Pacific

Weekly aerosol samples were collected from March 1981 to June 1983 at the six stations in the western North Pacific region and analyzed for Ca and Na. By coupling data with those previously reported for Al (Tsunogai et al., 1985), the following results and conclusion have been obtained. There was a positive correlation between the atmospheric concentration of Al and the concentration of nonsea salt Ca (nssCa). The nssCa/Al ratios from the six stations, however, considerably varied (from 0.84±0.36 to 3.00±1.91), and the ratios were usally larger than those of the crustal average or of usual soil in Japan. The Ca/Al ratios of Asian desert soil and loess vary from 0.52 to 1.29, which are similar to the nssCa/Al ratios of aerosols in the surface air over the western North Pacific region except at Onna, Okinawa. The exception may be due to a local effect of coral. These results suggest that a large part of nonsea salt Ca in the surface air over the western North Pacific is derived from arid regions in Asia and that the nssCa/Al ratio in aerosol varies with that of the source material.     

Aerosol characteristics during winter fog at Agra,North India

Simultaneous measurements on physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosols over a tropical semi-arid location, Agra in north India, were undertaken during December 2004. The average concentration of total suspended particulates (TSP) increased by about 1.4 times during intense foggy/hazy days. Concentrations of SO₄ ²⁻, NO₃ ⁻, NH₄ ⁺ and Black Carbon (BC) aerosols increased by 4, 2, 3.5 and 1.7 times, respectively during that period. Aerosols were acidic during intense foggy/hazy days but the fog water showed alkaline nature, mainly due to the neutralizing capacity of NH₄ aerosols. Trajectory analyses showed that air masses were predominantly from NW direction, which might be responsible for transport of BC from distant and surrounding local sources. Diurnal variation of BC on all days showed a morning and an evening peak that were related to domestic cooking and vehicular emissions, apart from boundary layer changes. OPAC (Optical properties of aerosols and clouds) model was used to compute the optical properties of aerosols. Both OPAC-derived and observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) values showed spectral variation with high loadings in the short wavelengths (<1 μm). AOD value at 0.5 μm wavelength was significantly high during intense foggy/hazy days (1.22) than during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days (0.63). OPAC-derived Single scattering albedo (SSA) was 0.84 during the observational period, indicating significant contribution of absorbing aerosols. However, the BC mass fraction to TSP increased by only 1% during intense foggy/hazy days and thereby did not show any impact on SSA during that period. A large increase was observed in the shortwave (SW) atmospheric (ATM) forcing during intense foggy/hazy days (+75.8 W/m²) than that during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days (+38 W/m²), mainly due to increase in absorbing aerosols. Whereas SW forcing at surface (SUF) increased from −40 W/m² during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days to −76 W/m² during intense foggy/hazy days, mainly due to the scattering aerosols like SO₄ ^2-.     

Global climatic change – the latest scientific understanding

IPCCs statement in its 1995 report (IPCC 1996) that a human influence was discernible in global climate has been widely quoted but often misunderstood. The character of the evidence underpinning this detection statement is explained so that its strengths and weaknesses can be better understood and the subtleties of its message better appreciated. To demonstrate the close linkage between the government-approved summary and the underlying chapters of the IPCC report the detailed evolution of the detection statement from first draft through to the form finally approved by the IPCC is described.     

2007-2017年中国沙尘气溶胶的三维分布特征及输送过程

利用最新发布的CALIPSO产品,构建了2007-2017年中国沙尘气溶胶的三维分布,并结合HYSPLIT-4模式和再分析数据,探讨了沙尘的三维输送过程。结果表明：中国的沙尘排放源区主要是塔克拉玛干沙漠和巴丹吉林沙漠,沙尘气溶胶出现频率分别为60%和35%。塔克拉玛干沙漠排放的沙尘主要（50%~70%）停留在源地0~6 000 m高度,少部分向东输送至甘肃和内蒙古;巴丹吉林沙漠排放的沙尘则主要向东输送。中国沙尘排放量在春季最大,向东输送最强;夏季,东亚夏季风限制了沙尘向东输送;秋季,沙尘排放减弱,输送强度和夏季相当;沙尘排放量在冬季最小,输送最弱。夏季,沙尘在输送过程中可被抬升至高度5 000 m以上,春季次之,秋、冬季的沙尘主要在低层大气输送。沙尘在向东输送的过程中被抬升并和当地人为污染物混合变为污染性沙尘,华北地区污染性沙尘出现频率高达30%;输送到海洋的沙尘也会与洋面上（0~3 000 m高度）的海盐气溶胶混合,出现频率约为10%。     

MODIS MAIAC高分辨率气溶胶光学厚度产品在干旱区的适用性研究

The Multiangle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) is a new generic algorithm applied to MODIS measurements to retrieve Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over land at high spatial resolution (1 km). It is expected to have good potential in improving the AOD inversion of dark and bright surfaces of land. The high spatial resolution of the MAIAC retrievals enhances the capability to distinguish aerosol sources and determine subtle aerosol features. Retrieval of satellite aerosol properties is therefore often challenging due to considerable seasonal variations in surface reflectance and aerosol properties. To date, MAIAC AOD over arid regions under data-scarce environments has been evaluated. Considering these uncertainties, a systematic effort was made to evaluate the MAIAC AOD over arid areas using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) ground-based AOD from 2000 to 2019. Considerable MAIAC-AERONET AOD matchups demonstrate the capability of MAIAC to retrieve AOD over varied ground surfaces and temporal scales. We employed a broader perspective and evaluated MAIAC performance under varying aerosol loading, aerosol types, surface coverage, and viewing geometry. The results show that (1) MAIAC performed well over various temporal scales, including monthly, seasonal and annual scales. Although underestimation is prevalent, MAIAC AOD in the spring and winter months correspond to the highest and lowest retrieval accuracies, respectively. (2) MAIAC performed well over four different typical land surface land surfaces, showing the highest retrieval accuracy over grassland, yet it slightly overestimated AOD. Construction land is most affected by the aerosol model, and farmland is strongly disturbed by surface reflectance and underestimated most obviously (Below EE = 46.5%). (3) The accuracies of the MAIAC AOD observations of Terra and Aqua are similar; R2 is more than 0.75, but both are underestimated, especially for Aqua. In general, MAIAC’s ability to provide AOD at high spatial resolution appears promising over arid areas and is expected to be helpful to study the characteristics of fine aerosols in arid areas and promote the study of local air quality. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

中国地区边界层大气气溶胶辐射吸收特性

采用粒子采样法对中国２３个地区边界层气溶胶的吸收系数作了测量,研究了其分布特征。结果表明：中国地区边界层气溶胶的吸收系数在１０＾－６－１０＾－３ｍ＾－１之间,明显呈北高南低的趋势,四川盆地和贵州有一相对较高的中心,吸收系数与粒子含量之间的相关系数为０．７４,吸收系数与粒子含量的分布一致性较好。小颗粒的吸收性能好于大颗粒。