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Title: Simulated responses of terrestrial aridity to black carbon and sulfate aerosols

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024100· OSTI ID:1438461
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Lanzhou Univ. (China). College of Atmospheric Sciences
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Lanzhou Univ. (China). College of Atmospheric Sciences; Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
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Aridity index (AI), defined as the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (PET), is a measure of the dryness of terrestrial climate. Global climate models generally project future decreases of AI (drying) associated with global warming scenarios driven by increasing greenhouse gas and declining aerosols. Given their different effects in the climate system, scattering and absorbing aerosols may affect AI differently. In this work, we explore the terrestrial aridity responses to anthropogenic black carbon (BC) and sulfate (SO4) aerosols with Community Earth System Model simulations. Positive BC radiative forcing decreases precipitation averaged over global land at a rate of 0.9%/°C of global mean surface temperature increase (moderate drying), while BC radiative forcing increases PET by 1.0%/°C (also drying). BC leads to a global decrease of 1.9%/°C in AI (drying). SO4 forcing is negative and causes precipitation a decrease at a rate of 6.7%/°C cooling (strong drying). PET also decreases in response to SO4 aerosol cooling by 6.3%/°C cooling (contributing to moistening). Thus, SO4 cooling leads to a small decrease in AI (drying) by 0.4%/°C cooling. Despite the opposite effects on global mean temperature, BC and SO4 both contribute to the twentieth century drying (AI decrease). Sensitivity test indicates that surface temperature and surface available energy changes dominate BC- and SO4-induced PET changes.

Research Organization:
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Basic Research Program of China; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (China); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-97ER62402; 41521004; 41275070; 41405010; 2012CB955303; lzujbky‐2015‐k02
OSTI ID:
1438461
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 121, Issue 2; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Changes in terrestrial aridity for the period 850-2080 from the Community Earth System Model: Changes in Terrestrial Aridity journal March 2016
Simulated differences in 21st century aridity due to different scenarios of greenhouse gases and aerosols journal February 2016

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
aridity
precipitation
PET
sulfate
black carbon
CO2