Huang Jianping

Dusty cloud radiative forcing derived from satellite data for middle latitude regions of East Asia

Abstract The dusty cloud radiative forcing over the middle latitude regions of East Asia was estimated by using the 2-year (July 2002-June 2004) data of collocated clouds and the Earths radiant energy system (CERES) scanner and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) from Aqua Edition 1B SSF (single scanner footprint). The dusty cloud is defined as the cloud in dust storm environment or dust contaminated clouds. For clouds growing in the presence of dust, the instantaneous short-wave (SW) forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) is about -275.7 W/m2 for cloud over dust (COD) region. The clouds developing in no-dust cloud (CLD) regions yield the most negative short-wave (SW) forcint (-311.0 W/m2), which is about 12.8% stronger than those in COD regions. For long-wave (LW) radiative forcing, the no-dust cloud (CLD) is around 102.8 W/m2, which is 20% less than the LW forcing from COD regions. The instantaneous TOA net radiative forcing for the CLD region is about -208.2W/m2, which is 42.1% l...

Micro-Pulse Lidar Measurements of Aerosol Vertical Structure over the Loess Plateau

Abstract Knowledge of the vertical distribution of aerosols in the free troposphere is important for estimating their impact on climate. In this study, direct observations of the vertical distribution of aerosols in the free tropo-sphere are made using surface Micro-Pulse Lidar (MPL) measurements. The MPL measurements were made at the Loess Plateau (35.95°N, 104.1°E), which is near the major dust source regions of the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts. The vertical distribution of the MPL backscattering suggested that non-dust aerosols floated from ground level to an altitude of approximately 9 km around the source regions. Early morning hours are characterized by a shallow aerosol layer of a few hundred meters thick. As the day progresses, strong convective eddies transport the aerosols vertically to more than 1500 m.

Comparison of dust emissions, transport, and deposition between the Taklimakan Desert and Gobi Desert from 2007 to 2011

The Taklimakan Desert (TD) and Gobi Desert (GD) are two of the most important dust sources in East Asia, and have important impact on energy budgets, ecosystems and water cycles at regional and even global scales. To investigate the contribution of the TD and the GD to dust concentrations in East Asia as a whole, dust emissions, transport, and deposition over the TD and the GD in different seasons from 2007 to 2011 were systematically compared, based on the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Dust emissions, uplift, and long-range transport related to these two dust source regions were markedly different due to differences in topography, elevation, thermal conditions, and atmospheric circulation. Specifically, the topography of the GD is relatively flat, and at a high elevation, and the area is under the influence of two jet streams at high altitudes, resulting in high wind speeds in the upper atmosphere. Deep convective mixing enables the descending branch of jet streams to continuously transport momentum downward to the mid-troposphere, leading to enhanced wind speeds in the lower troposphere over the GD which favors the vertical uplift of the GD dust particles. Therefore, the GD dust was very likely to be transported under the effect of strong westerly jets, and thus played the most important role in contributing to dust concentrations in East Asia. Approximately 35% and 31% of dust emitted from the GD transported to remote areas in East Asia in spring and summer, respectively. The TD has the highest dust emission capabilities in East Asia, with emissions of about 70.54 Tg yr−1 in spring, accounting for 42% of the total dust emissions in East Asia. However, the TD is located in the Tarim Basin and surrounded by mountains on three sides. Furthermore, the dominant surface wind direction is eastward and the average wind speed at high altitudes is relatively small over the TD. As a result, the TD dust particles are not easily transported outside the Tarim Basin, such that most of the dust particles are re-deposited after uplift, at a total deposition rate of about 40 g m−2. It is only when the TD dust particles are uplifted above 4 km, and entrained in westerlies that they begin to undergo a long-range transport. Therefore, the contribution of the TD dust to East Asian dust concentrations was relatively small. Only 25% and 23% of the TD dust was transported to remote areas over East Asia in spring and summer, respectively.

Analysis of Ice Water Path Retrieval Errors Over Tropical Ocean

Retrieval of multi-layered cloud properties, especially ice water path (IWP), is one of the most perplexing problems in satellite cloud remote sensing. This paper develops a method for improving the IWP retrievals for ice-over-water overlapped cloud systems using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) data. A combined microwave, visible and infrared algorithm is used to identify overlapped clouds and estimate IWP separately from liquid water path. The retrieval error of IWP is then evaluated by comparing the IWP to that retrieved from single-layer ice clouds surrounding the observed overlapping systems. The major IWP retrieval errors of overlapped clouds are primarily controlled by the errors in estimating the visible optical depth. Optical depths are overestimated by about 10–40% due to the influence of the underlying cloud. For the ice-over-warm-water cloud systems (cloud water temperature Tw > 273 K), the globally averaged IWP retrieval error is about 10%. This cloud type accounts for about 15% of all high-cloud overlapping cases. Ice-over-super-cooled water clouds are the predominant overlapped cloud system, accounting for 55% of the cases. Their global averaged error is ∼17.2%. The largest IWP retrieval error results when ice clouds occur over extremely super-cooled water clouds (Tw ⩽ 255 K). Overall, roughly 33% of the VIRS IWP retrievals are overestimated due to the effects of the liquid water clouds beneath the cirrus clouds. To improve the accuracy of the IWP retrievals, correction models are developed and applied to all three types of overlapped clouds. The preliminary results indicate that the correction models reduce part of the retrieval error.