Multi-decadal trends of solar radiation reaching the surface: What is the role of aerosols?

Mian Chin1, Thomas L Diehl2, Huisheng Bian3, Hongbin Yu1,4, Yun Qian5, Martin Wild6, David G Streets7 and Paul W Stackhouse Jr8, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory (Code 614), Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, (5)Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, United States, (6)ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Zurich, Switzerland, (7)Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, United States, (8)NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, United States
Abstract:
We present an investigation on multi-decadal changes of atmospheric aerosols and their effects on surface radiation using a global chemistry transport model along with the near-term to long-term data records. We present the aerosol trends in the past 3 decades (1980-2009) in different regions and assess their effects on the multi-decadal change of solar radiation reaching the surface (known as “dimming” or “brightening”). The regions include the major anthropogenic source regions (North America, Europe, Asia) that have been experiencing considerable changes of pollution emissions, dust and biomass burning influenced regions that have large interannual variabilities, and relatively remote regions that maybe considered as “background”. We will compare the GOCART model simulated surface radiation trends with data from the Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA), the Baseline Solar Radiation Network (BSRN), and the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), as well as the satellite derived products. We will use the model to attribute the surface radiation changes to aerosol amount and type under all sky and clear sky conditions and link the changes to the emission trends in major source regions.
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