P1.10
Is the warming trend in eastern China due to the high absorbing aerosols?
Shaocai Yu, Duke University, Durham, NC; and J. Dong
It was found that in eastern China there was a slight overall warming trend during later half of this century. The recent study reports that airborne absorbing aerosols were capable of raising regional temperature far more than CO2 through cloud-burning effect of absorbing aerosols; increasing absorbing aerosols can decrease cloudiness and increase regional temperature. It was well-documented that decreasing trends in cloud amount were observed over much of China during 1951-1994. This implies the increasing trend of absorbing aerosol concentration in eastern China. The TOMS satellite measurements also indicate that the absorbing aerosols were very high over eastern China, especially during winter and spring periods compared to those in the southeastern US, where a slight cooling trend was observed. Although surface temperature records reveal a complex regional pattern and the changes in temperature are hard to explain because they are a result of many factors controlled by natural variability of the climate system as well as anthropogenically induced forcing, we believe that the high concentrations of absorbing aerosols over eastern China during winter and spring might be one of the major reasons on the basis of our analysis.
Poster Session 1, Global Change and Climate Variations Poster Session
Tuesday, 16 January 2001, 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
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