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Title: Radiative effects of interannually varying vs. interannually invariant aerosol emissions from fires

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
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Open-burning fires play an important role in the earth's climate system. In addition to contributing a substantial fraction of global emissions of carbon dioxide, they are a major source of atmospheric aerosols containing organic carbon, black carbon, and sulfate. These “fire aerosols” can influence the climate via direct and indirect radiative effects. In this study, we investigate these radiative effects and the hydrological fast response using the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Emissions of fire aerosols exert a global mean net radiative effect of -1.0 W m-2, dominated by the cloud shortwave response to organic carbon aerosol. The net radiative effect is particularly strong over boreal regions. Conventionally, many climate modelling studies have used an interannually invariant monthly climatology of emissions of fire aerosols. However, by comparing simulations using interannually varying emissions vs. interannually invariant emissions, we find that ignoring the interannual variability of the emissions can lead to systematic overestimation of the strength of the net radiative effect of the fire aerosols. Globally, the overestimation is +23% (-0.2 W m-2). Regionally, the overestimation can be substantially larger. For example, over Australia and New Zealand the overestimation is +58% (-1.2 W m-2), while over Boreal Asia the overestimation is +43% (-1.9 W m-2). The systematic overestimation of the net radiative effect of the fire aerosols is likely due to the non-linear influence of aerosols on clouds. However, ignoring interannual variability in the emissions does not appear to significantly impact the hydrological fast response. In order to improve understanding of the climate system, we need to take into account the interannual variability of aerosol emissions.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-94ER61937
OSTI ID:
1333330
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1424399
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Journal Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online) Vol. 16 Journal Issue: 22; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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