Recent Climatology and Environmental Impacts of Aerosols Observed from Satellite Data Over Yangtze River Delta Region

Abstract

The important elements of the climate system are aerosols and clouds, significantly affecting the radiation budget. They play an important role in modifying the hydrological cycle and chemistry of the atmosphere. The authors have analyzed and examined the optical and radiative effects of aerosols and clouds on the radiative forcing. This has been achieved through the investigation of aerosol optical depth (AOD), absorbing aerosol index (AAI), and vertically distributed aerosol types. The work reported in this paper demonstrates the spatiotemporal changes and climatology of aerosols and clouds over the urban agglomeration domain in East China, namely the Yangtze River Delta region during 2002-2020. The results revealed a strong spatiotemporal heterogeneity in AOD and AAI values over East China during the study period. The study also presents the impact of fire counts to understand the impact of forest fires and burning on the urban atmosphere. Further, we presented the vertical structure of aerosol distribution and their classification retrieved from the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) over the area during 2007-2020. Finally, the short-wave and long-wave cloud radiative forcing are investigated with the data obtained from the CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) satellite over the domain.