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Regional and global trends in sulfate aerosol since the 1980s
Author(s) -
Manktelow P. T.,
Mann G. W.,
Carslaw K. S.,
Spracklen D. V.,
Chipperfield M. P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl028668
Subject(s) - sulfate , sulfate aerosol , aerosol , environmental science , sulfur , atmospheric sciences , latitude , climatology , east asia , atmospheric chemistry , meteorology , physical geography , ozone , geography , chemistry , china , geology , organic chemistry , geodesy , archaeology
In the last two decades anthropogenic SO 2 emissions have decreased across Europe and North America but have increased across Asia. Long‐term surface observations suggest that atmospheric sulfate concentrations have followed trends in sulfur emissions more closely across Asia, than across the USA and Europe. We use a global model of chemistry and aerosol to understand changes in the regional sulfur budget between 1985 and 2000. For every 1% decrease in SO 2 emissions over Europe and the USA the modelled sulfate column burden decreased by 0.65%, while over Asia a 1% increase in SO 2 resulted in a 0.88% increase in sulfate. The different responses can be explained by the availability of oxidant in cloud. We find that because emissions have moved southward to latitudes where in‐cloud oxidation is less oxidant limited, the 12% reduction in global SO 2 emissions between 1985 and 2000 caused only a 3% decrease in global sulfate.