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Radiative forcing of black carbon over eastern India
Author(s) -
Sreekanth V.,
Niranjan K.,
Madhavan B. L.
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 - 10.1029/2007gl030377
Subject(s) - radiative forcing , aethalometer , atmospheric sciences , forcing (mathematics) , environmental science , aerosol , climatology , monsoon , radiative transfer , carbon black , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric radiative transfer codes , geology , meteorology , physics , chemistry , natural rubber , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Measurements of aerosol Black Carbon using a 7 channel Aethalometer at Visakhapatnam, a coastal tropical station on the east coast of India are used to study the temporal variation of surface BC mass concentration. The surface BC mass concentrations show a significant diurnal variation which is seasonally dependant. Analysis using the multi spectral data indicates that the BC mass does not show significant absorption due to non‐BC aerosol species which indicates that the surface BC mass is dominated by fossil fuel sources with no indication of any other strong anthropogenic source. The Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model was used in conjunction with Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) to estimate the BC radiative forcing. The results show large negative surface forcing during winter (−35.78 W/m 2 ), moderate during summer (−16.8 W/m 2 ) and lower forcing during monsoon (−9.9 W/m 2 ) and post monsoon (−2.81 W/m 2 ). The forcing at the top of the atmosphere is positive for all the seasons.