240
240 – Aerosol Characterization and Radiative Forcing Assessment Using Satellite Data and Models
Principal Investigator(s): H. Yu
Aerosols affect the Earth’s energy budget directly by scattering and absorbing radiation and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and, thereby, affecting cloud properties. Aerosols can be transported thousands of miles downwind, thereby having important implications for climate change and air quality on a wide range of scales. Enhanced new satellite passive sensors introduced in the last decade, the emerging measurements of aerosol vertical distributions from space-borne lidars provided the opportunity to attempt measurement-based characterization of aerosol and assessment of aerosol radiative forcing. Such satellite-based methods can play a role in extending temporal and spatial scale of field campaigns and evaluating and constraining model simulations. On the other hand, model simulations and measurements from field campaigns can provide essential parameters that satellites don’t observe. The overall goal of this research is to characterize aerosol distributions and assess the aerosol radiative forcing through an integration of multiple satellite observations and model simulations.
