NEESPI Focus Research Center on ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL AND AIR POLLUTION

Transcription

1 NEESPI Focus Research Center on ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL AND AIR POLLUTION Irina N. Sokolik School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, USA

2 NEESPI FRC on Atmospheric Aerosol and Air Pollution Venue: School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA Leaders: Irina Sokolik, Robert Dickinson, Judith Curry Two-fold Objectives: Conduct, facilitate, and promote research aimed at improved understanding of interactions between changing aerosols and the earth systems in Northern Eurasia Education and training

3 Climate radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001) global mean radiative forcing (W/m2): 2000 relative to 1750

4 Northern Eurasia has the world s largest sources of natural and anthropogenic aerosols and air pollutants DUST SULFATES CARBONACEOUS

5 Focus of NEESPI aerosol and air pollution studies Aerosol- and air pollution-induced interactions and feedbacks in the land biosphere-atmosphere system and their role in climate change What are the key aerosol- and air pollution-induced processes and feedbacks that have been controlling the energy, water and carbon fluxes over Northern Eurasia (their mechanisms, temporal and spatial scales)? How will the future changes in terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, climate and human factors affect the above processes in Northern Eurasia? => Implications to regional and global climate change

6 Why Northern Eurasia? The worlds largest sources of major aerosol types and air pollutants => strong regional and global (via long-range transport, teleconnection) signals Distinct trends in sources and spatial and temporal variability (due to region-specific climatic, economical and political changes)

7 Carbonaceous aerosols from biomass and fossil fuel burning Increasing frequency of biomass burning in Northern Eurasia Higher emissions of carbonaceous aerosols as well as trace gases (CO, CO2, etc) Regional emissions of black carbon from fossil fuel burning (Novakov et al., 2003) Control of fossil-fuel particulate black carbon and organic matter, possibly the most effective method of slowing global warming (Jacobson et al.) Climate Warming Due to Soot and Smoke? Maybe Not (Penner et al.) Slow down of the hydrological cycle (Ramanathan et al.)

8 Air pollution Less sulfates more warming? Andreae et al., Nature 2005

9 Adverse impacts of air pollution (Acid rain, Arctic Haze) Forest area and growing stock at risk from sulfur and nitrogen depositions in Russia (Nilsson and Shvidenko, 1999) Forested area (in million ha) Sulfur Growing stock (in billion m 3 ) European Russia Asian Russia Total Nitrogen European Russia Asian Russia Total

10 Atmospheric dust affects PAR, surface energy and water balance, precipitation Drying up of the Aral Sea Long-range transport of Asian dust Increasing frequency of dust storms in China Less dusty future? Mahowald et al. A recent increase in dust storms, Zao et al. Less or more precipitation?

11 Starting point for NEESPI FRC on Atmospheric Aerosol and Air Pollution Science Objectives: conduct, facilitate, and promote Current science foci (14 NEESPI funded proposals): Impact of dust on ecosystem functioning, precipitation, and surface energy balance. Coupling and feedbacks in the land biosphere-dustatmosphere system Impact of aerosols on the hydrological cycle in Arctic (endorsed by IPY) Wildfire, Ecosystems, and Climate: Examining the relationships between weather, extreme fire events, and fire-induced land-cover change Air quality and human health: Trans-Siberian observations (TROICA), POLLEN (allergic pollen in Europe) Facilitate and promote: - Establish dedicated web site (info on funded projects, research news, discussion forum, data and modeling tools - Linkages with other national and international programs (GEWEX, Aerosols of Siberia, ADEC, IPY, IGBP projects, etc.)

12 NEESPI FRC on Atmospheric Aerosol and Air Pollution Education and training

13 Educational Activities: New Initiatives Georgia Tech Partnership with Peking University: Grand Challenges in Environmental Science and Technology A long-term institutional partnership between Georgia Tech (GIT) and Peking University (PKU) in the area of Environmental Science and Technology to conduct frontier interdisciplinary research that addresses changes in the regional China environment in context of the change in the global environment. EAS Leader: Judith Curry Georgia Tech delegation visit: January 2006

14 Educational Activities: New Initiatives FUNDED PERID Proposal to Intellectual Introduction Project for the Discipline Innovation in China University System Ministry of Education and State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs of China LAND ATMOSPHERIC INTERACTION STUDIES Yongjiu Dai 1, Robert E. Dickinson 2, PIs Co-Investigators: Filippo Giorgi 3, Rong Fu 2, Irina Sokolik 2, Judith Curry 2, Xubin Zeng 4, Shun-Lin Liang 5, Kun Yang 6, Liming Zhou 2, Gui-Lin Wang 7, Athanasios Nenes 2 Co-Investigators (BNU): Xiaowen Li, Jingdi Wang, Daoyi Gong, Yun Xie, Jiping Liu, Xunqiang Bi, Jing Zhang, Shaomin Liu, Rui Sun 1 Beijing Normal University, China 2 Georgia Institute of Technology, USA 3 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy 4 University of Arizona, USA 5 University of Maryland, USA 6 University of Tokyo, Japan 7 University of Connecticut, USA The main objectives: a) provide a major advance in understanding of how the land and atmosphere interact together to generate aerosol and cloud properties, precipitation, and soil moisture; b) train a new generation of scientists within China and elsewhere focused on further advancing this understanding.

15 Educational activities Active involvement of grad and undergrad students (via funded NEESPI proposals, summer research assistantships, exchange of international students, participation in scientific meetings) Online class materials (Air pollution, Remote sensing, Aerosol and climate, Land biosphere-atmosphere processes) Summer school Graduate student conference

16 The need for NEESPI aerosol and air pollution studies Climate change and population development in the 21th century are expected to cause increases in atmospheric aerosol concentrations. There is a clear need for improved knowledge of interactions between changing atmospheric aerosols and the Earth Systems to increase confidence in our understanding of how and why the climate and environment have changed and to develop improved predictive capabilities for integrative assessments of climate change in the future By focusing on Northern Eurasia, NEESPI will provide breakthroughs in understanding the roles of atmospheric aerosols and air pollutants in climate change at the regional and global scales that are unlikely to be achieved without a focused international, multi-disciplinary, inter-agency initiative

17 NEESPI science questions: What are the magnitude and spatial/temporal distribution of the radiative forcing caused by atmospheric aerosols over Northern Eurasia? How did the sources, distributions and properties of aerosols in Northern Eurasia change in recent years, and to what extent are these changes attributable to natural variability and human causes? How will the future land-use and land cover changes, industry development and other human-induced changes affect emissions of different aerosol types in Northern Eurasia?

18 NEESPI science questions (cont.): How do atmospheric aerosols affect the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Northern Eurasia? What is the spatial variability of the aerosol loading and composition in modern and pre-industrial times (with differentiation of anthropogenic and natural aerosol)? How will the projected changes in atmospheric aerosols affect air quality and human health? What are the main feedback mechanisms among climate change and aerosols?

19 NEESPI science questions: What are the magnitude and spatial/temporal distribution of the radiative forcing caused by atmospheric aerosols over Northern Eurasia? How did the sources, distributions and properties of aerosols in Northern Eurasia change in recent years, and to what extent are these changes attributable to natural variability and human causes? How will the future land-use and land cover changes, industry development and other human-induced changes affect emissions of different aerosol types in Northern Eurasia?