A43D-0322
Effects of Black Carbon Aerosols on Tropical Cyclones
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Xin Rong Chua, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States and Yi Ming, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, United States
Abstract:
The GFDL 50-km HiRAM model is used to study the effect of aerosol radiative and microphysical perturbations on the frequency of tropical cyclones. The atmospheric-only effects of aerosols on tropical cyclones are of comparable magnitudes to those of greenhouse gases. The calculated global reduction in frequency is consistent with thermodynamic arguments. However, a zonally asymmetric response in the convective mass flux can be seen across the tropics. In the meridional direction, the interhemispheric asymmetry of black carbon manifests in a weakening of the DJF Hadley cell, but not a strengthening in the JJA Hadley cell, possibly a result of the global convective mass flux constraint. These issues are further explored through Wheeler-Kiladis wave analysis as well as idealized uniform perturbations of black carbon aerosols.
