References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-7-2585-2007

The direct effect of aerosols on solar radiation based on satellite observations, reanalysis datasets, and spectral aerosol optical properties from Global Aerosol Data Set (GADS)

Hatzianastassiou

¹ ² Matsoukas

² ³ Drakakis

² ⁵ Stackhouse Jr.

P. W.

⁶ Koepke

⁷ Fotiadi

² ⁴ Pavlakis

K. G.

² ⁸ Vardavas

² ⁴

Laboratory of Meteorology, Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece

Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece

Department of Physics, University of Crete, Crete, Greece

Department of Electrical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

Atmospheric Sciences, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA

Meteorological Institute, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Department of General Applied Science, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

16 05 2007

7 10 2585 2599

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/2585/2007/acp-7-2585-2007.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/2585/2007/acp-7-2585-2007.pdf

A global estimate of the seasonal direct radiative effect (DRE) of natural plus anthropogenic aerosols on solar radiation under all-sky conditions is obtained by combining satellite measurements and reanalysis data with a spectral radiative transfer model and spectral aerosol optical properties taken from the Global Aerosol Data Set (GADS). The estimates are obtained with detailed spectral model computations separating the ultraviolet (UV), visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The global distribution of spectral aerosol optical properties was taken from GADS whereas data for clouds, water vapour, ozone, carbon dioxide, methane and surface albedo were taken from various satellite and reanalysis datasets. Using these aerosol properties and other related variables, we generate climatological (for the 12-year period 1984–1995) monthly mean aerosol DREs. The global annual mean DRE on the outgoing SW radiation at the top of atmosphere (TOA, ΔFTOA) is −1.62 W m−2 (with a range of −15 to 10 W m−2, negative values corresponding to planetary cooling), the effect on the atmospheric absorption of SW radiation (ΔFatmab) is 1.6 W m−2 (values up to 35 W m−2, corresponding to atmospheric warming), and the effect on the surface downward and absorbed SW radiation (ΔFsurf, and ΔFsurfnet, respectively) is −3.93 and −3.22 W m−2 (values up to −45 and −35 W m−2, respectively, corresponding to surface cooling). According to our results, aerosols decrease/increase the planetary albedo by −3 to 13% at the local scale, whereas on planetary scale the result is an increase of 1.5%. Aerosols can warm locally the atmosphere by up to 0.98 K day−1, whereas they can cool the Earth's surface by up to −2.9 K day−1. Both these effects, which can significantly modify atmospheric dynamics and the hydrological cycle, can produce significant planetary cooling on a regional scale, although planetary warming can arise over highly reflecting surfaces. The aerosol DRE at the Earth's surface compared to TOA can be up to 15 times larger at the local scale. The largest aerosol DRE takes place in the northern hemisphere both at the surface and the atmosphere, arising mainly at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.

References 1

Bellouin, N., Boucher, O., Tanré, D., and Dubovik, O.: Aerosol absorption over the clear-sky oceans deduced from POLDER-1 and AERONET observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1748, doi:10.1029/2003GL017121, 2003.

Bellouin, N., Boucher, O., Haywood, J., and Reddy, M. S.: Global estimate of aerosol direct radiative forcing from satellite measurements, Nature, 438, 1138–1141, 2005.

Boucher, O.: On aerosol direct shortwave forcing and the Henyey-Greenstein phase function, J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 128–134, 1998.

Bush, B. C. and Valero, F. P. J.: Surface aerosol radative forcing at GOSAN during the ACE-Asia campaign, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D23), 8660, doi:10.1029/2002JD003233, 2003.

Cattrall, C., Karder K. L., and Gordon, H. R.: Columnar single-scattering albedo and phase function retrieved from sky radiance over the ocean: Measurements of Saharan dust, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4287, doi:10.1029/2002JD002497, 2003.

Chin, M., Ginoux, P., Holben, B. N., Chou, M.-D., Kinne, S., and Weaver, C.: The GOCART model study of aerosol composition and aerosol forcing, 12th Symposium of Global Change and Climate Variations, Am. Meteorol. Soc., Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2001.

Chin, M., Ginoux, P., Kinne, S., Torres, O., Holben, B. N., Duncan, B. N., Martin, R. V., Logan, J. A., Higurashi, A., and Nakajima, T.: Tropospheric aerosol optical thickness from the GOCART model and comparisons with satellite and Sun photometer measurements, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 461–483, 2002.

Christopher, S. A. and Zhang, J.: Shortwave aerosol radiative forcing from MODIS and CERES observations over the oceans, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1859, doi:10.1029/2002GL014803, 2002.

Christopher, S. A., Zhang, J. A., Kaufman Y. J., and Remer L. A.: Satellite-based assessment of top of atmosphere anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing over cloud-free oceans, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L15816, doi:10.1029/2005GL025535, 2006.

Chu, D. A., Kaufman, Y. J., Ichoku, C., Remer, L. A., Tanré D., and Holben, B. N.: Validation of MODIS aerosol optical depth retrieval over land, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(12), 1617, doi:10.1029/2001GL013205, 2002.

Chung, C. E., Ramanathan, V., Kim, D., and Podgorny, I. A.: Global anthropogenic aerosol direct forcing derived from satellite and ground-based observations, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D24207, doi:10.1029/2005JD006356, 2005.

D'Almeida, G. A., Koepke, P., and Shettle, E. P.: Atmospheric aerosols: Global climatology and radiative characteristics, A. Deepak Publishing, Hampton, Virginia, USA, 560~pp., 1991.

Dubovik, O., Holben, B. N., Eck, T. F., Smirnov, A., Kaufman, Y. J., King, M. D., Tanré, D., Logan, and Slutsker, Y.: Variability of absorption and optical properties of key aerosol types observed in worldwide regions, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 590–608, 2002.

Formenti, P., Elbert, W., Maenhaut, W., Haywood, J., and Andreae, M. O.: Chemical composition of mineral dust aerosol during the Saharan Dust Experiment (SHADE) airborne campaign in the Cape Verde region, September 2000, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D18), 8576, doi:10.1029/2002JD002648, 2003.

Granger Morgan, M., Adams, P. J., and Keith, D. W.: Elicitation of expert judgments of aerosol forcing, Clim. Change, 75, 195–214, 2006.

Hatzianastassiou, N. and Vardavas, I.: Shortwave radiation budget of the Northern Hemisphere using International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project and NCEP/NCAR climatological data, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 24 401–24 421, 1999.

Hatzianastassiou, N. and Vardavas, I.: Shortwave radiation budget of the Southern Hemisphere using ISCCP C2 and NCEP/NCAR climatological data, J. Climate, 14, 4319–4329, 2001.

Hatzianastassiou, N., Katsoulis, B., and Vardavas, I.: Global distribution of aerosol direct radiative forcing in the ultraviolet and visible arising under clear skies, Tellus, 56B, 51–71, 2004a.

Hatzianastassiou, N., Katsoulis, B., and Vardavas, I.: Sensitivity analysis of aerosol direct radiative forcings in the ultraviolet – visible wavelengths and consequences for the heat budget, Tellus, 56B, 368–381, 2004b.

Hatzianastassiou, N., Fotiadi, A., Matsoukas, C., Pavlakis, K. G., Drakakis, E., Hatzidimitriou, D., and Vardavas, I.: Long-term global distribution of Earth's shortwave radiation budget at the top of atmosphere, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 1217–1235, 2004c.

Hatzianastassiou, N., Fotiadi, A., Matsoukas, C., Drakakis, E., Pavlakis, K. G., Hatzidimitriou, and Vardavas, I.: A 17-year global distribution of Earth's surface shortwave radiation budget, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 2847–2867, 2005.

Hatzianastassiou, N., Matsoukas, C., Fotiadi, A., Stackhouse Jr., P. W., Koepke, P., Drakakis, E., Pavlakis, K. G., Hatzidimitriou, D., and Vardavas, I.: Modelling the direct effect of aerosols in the solar near infrared on a planetary scale, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 6, 9151–9185, 2006.

Haywood, J. M. and Shine, K. P.: Multi-spectral calculations of the radiative forcing of tropospheric sulphate and soot aerosols using a column model, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 123, 1907–1930, 1997.

Haywood, J. M. and Ramaswamy, V.: Global sensitivity studies of the direct radiative forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate and black carbon aerosols, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 6043–6058, 1998.

Hu, R.-M., Blanchet, J.-P., and Girard, E.: Evaluation of the direct and indirect radiative and climate effects of aerosols over the western Arctic, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D11213, doi:10.1029/2004JD005043, 2005.

Hess, M., Koepke, P., and Schult, I.: Optical properties of aerosols and clouds: The software package OPAC, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 79, 831–844, 1998.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Climate Change 2001, The Scientific Basis, edited by: Houghton J. T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D. J., et al., Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 881~pp., 2001.

Jacobson, M. Z.: Global direct radiative forcing due to multicomponent anthropogenic and natural aerosols, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 1551–1568, 2001.

Joseph, J. H., Wiscombe, W. J., and Weinmann, J. A.: The Delta-Eddington approximation of radiative flux transfer, J. Atmos. Sci., 33, 2452–2459, 1976.

Kaufman, Y. J., Tanré, D., Dubovik, O., Karnieli, A., and Remer, L. A.: Absorption of sunlight by dust as inferred from satellite and ground-based measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 1479–1482, 2001.

Kaufman, Y. J., Tanré, D., and Boucher, O.: A satellite view of aerosols in the climate system, Nature, 419, 215–223, 2002.

Keil, A. and Haywood, J.: Solar radiative forcing by biomass burning aerosol particles during SAFARI-2000: A case study based on measured aerosol and cloud properties, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 8467, doi:10.1029/2002JD002315, 2003.

King, M. D., Kaufmann, Y. J., Tanré, D., and Nakajima, T.: Remote sensing of tropospheric aerosols from space: Past, present, and future, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Sos., 80, 2229–2259, 1999.

Kinne, S., Lohmann, U., Feichter, J., Schulz, M., et al.: Monthly averages of aerosol properties: A global comparison among models, satellite data, and AERONET ground data, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D20), 4634, doi:10.1029/2001JD001253, 2003.

Kinne, S., Schulz, M., Textor, C., Guibert, S., et al.: An AeroCom initial assessment – optical properties in aerosol component modules of global models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 1815–1834, 2006.

Koch D. and Hansen, J.: Distant origins of Arctic black carbon: A Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE experiment, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D04204, doi:10.1029/2004JD005296, 2005.

Koepke, P., Hess, M., Schult, I., and Shettle, E. P.: Global aerosol data set, Rep No 243, Max-Planck Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany, 44 pp., 1997.

Kristjánsson, J. E., Iversen, T., Kirkevåg A., Seland, Ø., and Debernard, J.: Response of the climate system to aerosol direct and indirect forcing: Role of cloud feedbacks, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D24206, doi:10.1029/2005JD006299, 2005.

Lau, K. M., Kim, M. K., and Kim, K. M.: Asian summer monsoon anomalies induced by direct forcing: The role of the Tibetan plateau, Clim. Dyn., 26, 855–864, 2006.

Liao, H., Seinfeld, J. H., Adams, P. J., and Mickley, L. J.: Global radiative forcing of coupled tropospheric ozone and aerosols in a unified general circulation model, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D16207, doi:10.1029/2003JD004456, 2004.

Liu, H., Westphal, D., Wang, S., Shimizu, A., Sugimoto, N., Zhou, J., and Chen, Y.: A high-resolution numerical study of the Asian dust storms of April 2001, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D23), 8653, doi:10.1029/2002JD003178, 2003.

Loeb, N. G. and Manalo-Smith, N.: Top-of-atmosphere direct radiative effect of aerosols over global oceans from merged CERES and MODIS observations, J. Climate, 18, 3506–3526, 2005.

Marshall, S. F., Covert, D. S., and Charlson, R. J.: Relationship between asymmetry parameter and hemispheric backscatter ratio: Implications for climate forcing by aerosols, Appl. Opt., 34, 6306–6311, 1995.

Morcrette, J.-J.: The surface downward longwave radiation in the ECMWF forecast system, J. Climate, 15, 1875–1992, 2002.

Moulin, C. and Chiapello, I.: Evidence of the control of summer atmospheric transport of African dust over the Atlantic by Sahel sources from TOMS satellites (1979–2000), Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L02107, doi:10.1029/2003GL018931, 2004.

Nishizawa, T., Asano, S., Uchiyama, A., and Yamazaki, A.: Seasonal variation of aerosol direct radiative forcing and optical properties estimated from ground-based solar radiation measurements, J. Atmos. Sci., 61, 57–72, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(2004)061, 2004.

Penner, J. E., Chuang, C. C., and Grant, K.: Climate forcing by carbonaceous and sulfate aerosols, Clim. Dyn., 14, 839–851, 1998.

Podgorny I. A. and Ramanathan, V.: A modeling study of the direct effect of aerosols over the tropical Indian Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 24 097–24 105, 2001.

Ramanathan, V., Crutzen, P. J., Kiehl, J. T., and Rosenfeld, D.: Aerosols, climate, and the hydrological cycle, Science, 294, 2119–2124, 2001.

Redemann, J., Pilewskie, P., Russell, P. B., Livingston, J. M., Howard, S., Schmidt, B., Pommier, J., Gore, W., Eilers, J., and Wendisch, M.: Airborne measurements of spectral direct aerosol radiative forcing in the Intercontinental chemical Transport Experiment/Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation of anthropogenic pollution, 2004, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D14210, doi:10.1029/2005JD006812, 2006.

Reddy, M. S., Boucher, O., Bellouin, N., Schulz, M., Balkanski, Y., Dufresne, J.-L., and Pham, M.: Estimates of global multicomponent aerosol optical depth and direct radiative perturbation in the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique general circulation model, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D10S16, doi:10.1029/2004JD004757, 2005.

Remer, L. A. and Kaufman, Y. J.: Aerosol direct radiative effect at the top of the atmosphere over cloud free ocean derived from four years of MODIS data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 237–253, 2006.

Rignot, E. P. and Kanagaratnam, P.: Changes in the Velocity Structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Science, 311, 5763, doi:10.1126/science.1121381, 986–990, 2006.

Rossow, W. B. and Schiffer, R. A.: Advances in understanding clouds from ISCCP, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 80, 2261–2287, 1999.

Rossow, W. B., Walker, A. W., Beuschel, D. E., and Roiter, M. D.: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), Documentation of new cloud datasets, Wold Meteorol. Org. Geneva, 115~pp., 1996.

Shettle, E. P. and Weinmann, J. A.: The transfer of solar irradiance through inhomogeneous turbid atmospheres evaluated by Eddington's approximation, J. Atmos. Sci., 27, 1048–1055, 1970.

Schulz, C., Textor, C., Kinne, S., Balkanski, Y., et al.: Radiative forcing by aerosols as derived from the AeroCom present-day and pre-industrial simulations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 5225–5246, 2006.

Stackhouse, P. W., Gupta, S. K., Cox, S. J., Mikowitz, C., and Chiacchio, M.: New results from the NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget project: Evaluating El Nino effects at different scales, 11th American Meteorological Society Conference on Atmospheric Radiation, Ogden, UT, USA, P.3.6, 2002.

Sun, J., Zhang, M., and Liu, T.: Spatial and temporal characteristics of dust storms in China and its surrounding regions, 1960–1999: Relations to source area and climate, J. Geophys. Res., 106(D10), 10 325–10 333, 2001.

Takemura, T., Nakajima, H. T., Dubovik, O., Holben, B. N., and Kinne, S.: Single-scattering albedo and radiative forcing of various aerosol species with a global three-dimensional model, J. Climate, 15, 333–352, 2002.

Takemura, T., Nakajima, T., Dubovik, O., Holben, B. N., and Kinne, S.: Single-scattering albedo and radiative forcing of various aerosol species with a global three-dimensional model, J. Climate, 15, 333–352, 2005.

Tanré, D., Haywood, J., Pelon, J., Léon, J. F, Chatenet, B., Formenti, P., Francis, P., Goloub, P., Highwood, E. J., and Myhre, G.: Measurement and modelling of the Saharan dust radiative impact: Overview of the Saharan Dust Experiment (SHADE), J. Geophys. Res., 108(D18), 8574, doi:10.1029/2002JD003273, 2003.

Textor, C., Schulz, M., Guibert, S., Kinne, S., et al.: Analysis and quantification of the diversities of aerosol life cycles within AeroCom, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 1777–1813, 2006.

Thekaekara, M. P. and Drummond, A. J.: Standard values for the solar constant and its spectral components, Nature Phys. Sci., 229, 6–9, 1971.

Torres, O., Bhartia, P. K., Herman, J. R., Sinyuk A., and Holben, B.: A long term record of aerosol optical thickness from TOMS observations and comparison to AERONET measurements, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 398–413, 2002.

Treffeisen, R., Rinke, A., Fortmann, M., Dethloff, K., Herber, A., and Yamanouchi, T.: A case study of the radiative effects of arctic aerosols in March 2000, Atmos. Environ, 39, 899–911, 2005.

Vardavas, I. and Carver, J. H.: Solar and terrestrial parameterizations for radiative convective models, Planet. Space Sci., 32, 1307–1325, 1984.

Wei, X. and co-authors: Comparison of albedos computed by land surface models and evaluation against remotely sensed data, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 20 687–20 702, 2001.

Willson, R. C.: Total solar irradiance trend during solar cycles 21 and 22, Science, 277, 1963–1965, 1997.

Yamanouchi T, Treffeisen R., Herber A., Shiobara M., Yamagata S., Hara K., Sato K., Yabuki M., Tomikawa Y., Rinke A., Neuber R., Schumachter R., Kriews M., Strom J., Schrems O., and Gernandt H.: Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol and Radiation (ASTAR) 2000: Arctic haze case study, Tellus, 57B, 141–152, 2005.

Yu, H., Dickinson, R. E., Chin, M., Kaufman, Y. J., Zhou, M., Zhou, L., Tian, Y., Dubovik, O., and Holben, B. N.: The direct radiative effect of aerosols as determined from a combination of MODIS retrievals and GOCART simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D03206, doi:10.1029/2003JD003914, 2004.

Yu, H., Kaufman, Y. J., Chin, M., Feingold, G., Remer, L. A., Anderson, T. L., Balkanski, Y., Bellouin, N., Boucher, O., Christopher, S., DeCola, P., Kahn, R., Koch, D., Loeb, N., Reddy, M. S., Schulz, M., Takemura, T., and Zhou, M.: A review of measurement-based assessment of aerosol direct radiative effect and forcing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 613–666, 2006.

Zhang, J., Christopher, S. A., Remer, L. A., and Kaufman, Y. J.: Shortwave aerosol cloud-free radiative forcing from Terra, II: Global and seasonal distributions, J. Geophys. Res., D10S24, doi:10.1029/2004JD005009, 2005.

Zhang, Y., Rossow, W. B., and Stackhouse Jr., P. W.: Comparison of different global information sources used in surface radiative flux calculation: Radiative properties of the near-surface atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D13106, doi:10.1029/2005JD006873, 2006.

Zhao, T. X.-P., Laszlo, I., Minnis, P., and Remer, L.: Comparison and analysis of two aerosol retrievals over the ocean in the Terra/Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer single scanner footprint data: 1. Global evaluation, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D21208, doi:10.1029/2005JD005851, 2005.

Zhou, M., Yu, H., Dickinson, R. E., Dubovik, O., and Holben, B. N.: A normalized description of the direct effect of key aerosol types on solar radiation as estimated from Aerosol Robotic Network aerosols and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer albedos, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D19202, doi:10.1029/2005JD005909, 2005.