Absorbing Aerosols Workshop Report, January 20–21, 2016
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)
A workshop was held at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Headquarters on January 20-21, 2016, during which experts within and outside DOE were brought together to identify knowledge gaps in modeling and measurement of the contribution of absorbing aerosols (AA) to radiative forcing. Absorbing aerosols refer to those aerosols that absorb light, whereby they both reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface (direct effect) and heat their surroundings. By doing so, they modify the vertical distribution of heat in the atmosphere and affect atmospheric thermodynamics and stability, possibly hastening cloud drop evaporation, and thereby affecting cloud amount, formation, dissipation and, ultimately, precipitation. Deposition of AA on snow and ice reduces surface albedo leading to accelerated melt.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Washington, D.C. (United States). Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
- OSTI ID:
- 1471231
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/SC--0185
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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