Interactions of Aerosols, Clouds, Radiation, Precipitation, and Climate on Regional Scale

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerosols".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 16340

Special Issue Editors

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Interests: aerosols; air pollution; atmospheric modeling; aerosol-cloud-climate interaction; atmospheric chemistry
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
Interests: aerosols; clouds; radiation; climate; climate modeling

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Interests: clouds; turbulence; large eddy simulation; radiation; climate; climate modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aerosols, which are produced by anthropogenic and natural emissions through complex physicochemical processes, significantly affect meteorology and Earth’s climate by interacting with clouds, radiation, and precipitation. The changes in meteorology and climate in turn have profound impact on aerosol properties and air quality. An adequate understanding and improved representation of these complex interactions is crucial for both air pollution control and climate change mitigation.

We welcome all theoretical, observational, experimental, and modeling studies that present new knowledge of aerosol-cloud-radiation-precipitation-climate interactions on regional scale. Relevant topics include but are not limited to: (1) Sources and formation mechanisms of aerosols, including inorganic and organic aerosols. (2) Aerosol physical and chemical processes that affect climate, including new particle formation and growth, cloud condensation and ice nucleation activities, heterogeneous/multiphase chemistry, mixing state/phase state variations, etc. (3) Interactions among aerosols, radiation, clouds (including liquid-, mixed-, and ice-phase clouds) and precipitation. (4) Roles of these interactions in boundary layer dynamics and thermodynamics, weather and climate change, and air pollution. (5) influence of meteorology and past/future climate change on aerosols and air quality.

Dr. Bin Zhao
Dr. Yu Gu
Dr. Kyle G. Pressel
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • aerosols
  • clouds
  • climate
  • precipitation
  • radiation
  • interaction
  • meteorology
  • air pollution
  • chemical process
  • ice nucleation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1825 KiB  
Article
Impact of Rain Precipitation on Urban Atmospheric Particle Matter Measured at Three Locations in France between 2013 and 2019
by Neal McMullen, Isabella Annesi-Maesano and Jean-Baptiste Renard
Atmosphere 2021, 12(6), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12060769 - 15 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2955
Abstract
As atmospheric particle matter (PM) pollution has been proven to be a public health risk, we investigated how PM concentrations of various particle diameters may be impacted by precipitation. Repeated measures over time of urban PM concentrations for particles of 0.2–50 µm in [...] Read more.
As atmospheric particle matter (PM) pollution has been proven to be a public health risk, we investigated how PM concentrations of various particle diameters may be impacted by precipitation. Repeated measures over time of urban PM concentrations for particles of 0.2–50 µm in diameter were compared with precipitation data from Météo-France weather stations in Paris, Angers and Palaiseau from 2013 to 2019. A significant negative correlation, using Kendall’s rank correlation, was found between the amount of precipitation and concentrations of particles >3 µm. Distribution comparative analysis (Dunn’s test) of 154 events of 1 mm or more of rain demonstrated a decrease in concentrations for particles from 10 to 50 µm in diameter. Additionally, granulometric analysis of a typical heavy rain event showed a 10-fold decrease in concentrations of particles 10 to 30 µm in diameter one hour after rain compared with one hour before. We were able to show that measured concentrations of particles between 10 and 50 µm in diameter diminish when it rains, with a lasting effect of approximately 10–15 h. Full article
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18 pages, 9941 KiB  
Article
Estimating the CMIP6 Anthropogenic Aerosol Radiative Effects with the Advantage of Prescribed Aerosol Forcing
by Xiangjun Shi, Chunhan Li, Lijuan Li, Wentao Zhang and Jiaojiao Liu
Atmosphere 2021, 12(3), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12030406 - 21 Mar 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2898
Abstract
The prescribed anthropogenic aerosol forcing recommended by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) was implemented in an atmospheric model. With the reduced complexity of anthropogenic aerosol forcing, each component of anthropogenic aerosol effective radiative forcing (ERF) can be estimated by one or [...] Read more.
The prescribed anthropogenic aerosol forcing recommended by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) was implemented in an atmospheric model. With the reduced complexity of anthropogenic aerosol forcing, each component of anthropogenic aerosol effective radiative forcing (ERF) can be estimated by one or more calculation methods, especially for instantaneous radiative forcing (RF) from aerosol–radiation interactions (RFari) and aerosol–cloud interactions (RFaci). Simulation results show that the choice of calculation method might impact the magnitude and reliability of RFari. The RFaci—calculated by double radiation calls—is the definition-based Twomey effect, which previously was impossible to diagnose using the default model with physically based aerosol–cloud interactions. The RFari and RFaci determined from present-day simulations are very robust and can be used as offline simulation results. The robust RFari, RFaci, and corresponding radiative forcing efficiencies (i.e., the impact of environmental properties) are very useful for analyzing anthropogenic aerosol radiative effects. For instance, from 1975 to 2000, both RFari and RFaci showed a clear response to the spatial change of anthropogenic aerosol. The global average RF (RFari + RFaci) has enhanced (more negative) by ~6%, even with a slight decrease in the global average anthropogenic aerosol, and this can be explained by the spatial pattern of radiative forcing efficiency. Full article
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17 pages, 5787 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Aerosol Direct Effect over China under El Niño and Its Spatial Distribution Using WRF-Chem
by Fangzhou Li, Wenshi Lin, Baolin Jiang and Jiangnan Li
Atmosphere 2021, 12(1), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12010058 - 31 Dec 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2218
Abstract
With rapid economic development and urbanization, the air pollution problem over China has drawn great attention. To explore the aerosol direct effect (ADE) over China, two simulations were conducted using WRF-Chem V3.5.1 in the summer of 2015. One was a control run (CTL) [...] Read more.
With rapid economic development and urbanization, the air pollution problem over China has drawn great attention. To explore the aerosol direct effect (ADE) over China, two simulations were conducted using WRF-Chem V3.5.1 in the summer of 2015. One was a control run (CTL) including aerosol effect and related physical and chemical processes, and the other one was a sensitivity simulation (SEN), the same as CTL except that aerosol-radiation interactions were turned off. The differences between two tests were analyzed, in particular over regions in South China (SC) and East China (EC). Results showed the following. (1) The large-scale circulation showed a strong El Niño signal, associated with cooling and wet anomalies over EC, while warming and dry anomalies over EC. (2) Due to ADE, there was a significant decrease in precipitation and an increase in AOD over SC and EC, albeit with different mechanisms. (3) In SC, ADE cooled the region reinforcing the El Niño impact and suppressing water vapor fluxes, which led to a more stable atmosphere and weakened water cycle. In EC, ADE caused vertical circulation anomalies opposing the El Niño impact. (4) ADE showed obvious land-sea difference in precipitation and shortwave radiation. Full article
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16 pages, 5434 KiB  
Article
Meteorological Factors Controlling 7Be Activity Concentrations in the Atmospheric Surface Layer in Northern Spain
by Natalia Alegría, Miguel Ángel Hernández-Ceballos, Margarita Herranz, Raquel Idoeta and Fernando Legarda
Atmosphere 2020, 11(12), 1340; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121340 - 10 Dec 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2506
Abstract
This work presents the analysis of weekly 7Be activity concentrations in the air measured in Bilbao (northern Spain) by collecting aerosols in filters over a ten years period (2009–2018). 7Be level is in the 0.35–7.3 mBq/m3 range, with a mean [...] Read more.
This work presents the analysis of weekly 7Be activity concentrations in the air measured in Bilbao (northern Spain) by collecting aerosols in filters over a ten years period (2009–2018). 7Be level is in the 0.35–7.3 mBq/m3 range, with a mean of 3.20 ± 1.12 mBq/m3. The trend, cycle, seasonal and monthly variability are evaluated using time series analysis techniques. The results indicate the impact of sunspots (24th solar cycle) on interannual 7Be activity concentrations, and a significant seasonal and monthly variation, with maximum concentrations occurring in spring-summer and minimum in the winter. The correlation of different 7Be ranges with local meteorological parameters, such as precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, and pressure, is also addressed, with precipitation having the greatest impact on 7Be activity values. The analysis of synoptic airflows, by calculating the back-trajectory clusters, and local winds at surface level reveals the important influence of the arrival of slow northwest Atlantic flows and the development of breezes on reaching high 7Be activity concentrations in this area. Full article
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15 pages, 1666 KiB  
Article
Impact of Precipitation with Different Intensity on PM2.5 over Typical Regions of China
by Xin Zhao, Yue Sun, Chuanfeng Zhao and Huifei Jiang
Atmosphere 2020, 11(9), 906; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11090906 - 26 Aug 2020
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 4450
Abstract
Atmospheric aerosol pollution has significant impacts on human health and economic society. One of the most efficient way to remove the pollutants from the atmosphere is wet deposition. This study selected three typical atmospheric pollution regions in China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze [...] Read more.
Atmospheric aerosol pollution has significant impacts on human health and economic society. One of the most efficient way to remove the pollutants from the atmosphere is wet deposition. This study selected three typical atmospheric pollution regions in China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) regions, as research areas, and used the hourly precipitation and PM2.5 mass concentration data from 2015 to 2017 to investigate the removal impacts of precipitation on PM2.5. The PM2.5 mass concentration difference before and after the hourly precipitation events was used to denote as the impacts of precipitation. Hourly precipitation event was selected so that the time difference between two PM2.5 observations was short enough to limit the PM2.5 change caused by other factors. This study focused on the differences in the removal effect of precipitation on PM2.5 under different precipitation intensities and pollution levels. The results show that both precipitation intensity and aerosol amount affected the removal effect. A negative removal effect existed for both light precipitation and low PM2.5 mass concentration conditions. In contrast, a positive removal effect occurred for both high precipitation and high PM2.5 mass concentration conditions. The removal effect increased with increasing precipitation intensity and PM2.5 mass concentration before precipitation and was consistent with the change trend of wind speed at a height of 100 m. The findings of this study can help understand the mechanism of wet scavenging on air pollution, providing support for air pollution control in future. Full article
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