Estimation of the Aerosol Radiative Effect over the Tibetan Plateau Based on the Latest CALIPSO Product

Based on the CALIPSO （Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation） Version 4.10 products released on 8 November 2016, the Level 2 （L2） aerosol product over the Tibetan Plateau （TP） is evaluated and the aerosol radiative effect is also estimated in this study. As there are still some missing aerosol data points in the day-time CALIPSO Version 4.10 L2 product, this study re-calculated the aerosol extinction coefficient to explore the aer-osol radiative effect over the TP based on the CALIPSO Level 1 （L1） and CloudSat 2B-CLDCLASS-LIDAR products. The energy budget estimation obtained by using the AODs （aerosol optical depths） from calculated aerosol extinction coefficient as an input to a radiative transfer model shows better agreement with the Earth＇s Radiant En- ergy System （CERES） and CloudSat 2B-FLXHR-LIDAR observations than that with the input of AODs from aero- sol extinction coefficient from CALIPSO Version 4.10 L2 product. The radiative effect and heating rate of aerosols over the TP are further simulated by using the calculated aerosol extinction coefficient. The dust aerosols may heat the atmosphere by retaining the energy in the layer. The instantaneous heating rate can be as high as 5.5 K day^-1 de-pending on the density of the dust layers. Overall, the dust aerosols significantly affect the radiative energy budget and thermodynamic structure of the air over the TP, mainly by altering the shortwave radiation budget. The signific-ant influence of dust aerosols over the TP on the radiation budget may have important implications for investigating the atmospheric circulation and future regional and global climate.

Aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions:A challenging problem in regional environment and climate research

Aerosols affect clouds in two broad ways： （i） presence of more number of aerosols leads to formation of more smaller droplets, and reduces coalescence, resulting in brighter clouds that reflect more solar energy back to space, hence they contribute to cooling of the Earth＇s surface and （ii） numerous smaller cloud droplets tend to reduce precipitation and change the extent of cloud cover and increase cloud lifetime and albedo. One of our recent studies on aerosols over the lndo-Gangetic Plains （IGP） relative to the pristine oceans to the south of Indian Ocean showed that highly absorbing aerosols could potentially lead to the revival of active condition preceded by long break. The absorption of solar radiation by aerosols such as black carbon and desert dust produces surface cooling and local stabilization of lower atmosphere. This stability effect is overcome by the enhanced moisture convergence due to the meridional gradient of aerosol-induced heating. In some other studies, we showed association between cloud thickness and cloud to sub-cloud ratio （SCR）, aerosol variability （in terms of aerosol optical depth and aerosol index） and monsoon precipitation and climate over regional scale. This paper provides an overview of some salient results that have been obtained from the studies conducted, using the ground- and space-based active and passive remote sensing techniques, at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology （IITM）, Pune, India in the recent decade.