Modelling of long-range transport of Southeast Asia biomass-burning aerosols to Taiwan and their radiative

• Main Authors: Forcings Over East Asia, Chuan-yao Lin, Chun Zhao, Xiaohong Liu, Neng-huei Lin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: biomass burning; aerosol optical depth; radiative forcing; modelling; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.663.7556; http://www.tellusb.net/index.php/tellusb/article/download/23733/pdf_2/

Biomass burning produces aerosols and air pollutants during springtime in Southeast Asia. At the Lulin Atmospheric Background Station (LABS) (elevation 2862m) in central Taiwan, the concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3) and particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 mm (PM10) were found to be 135200 ppb, 4056 ppb and 1326 mg/m3, respectively, in the springtime (FebruaryApril) between 2006 and 2009, which are 23 times higher than those in other seasons. Simulation results indicate that higher concentrations during springtime are related to biomass-burning plumes transported from the Indochinese peninsula of Southeast Asia. The spatial distribution of high aerosol optical depth (AOD) was identified by satellite measurement and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) ground observation, and could be reasonably captured by the WRF-Chem model during the study period of 1518 March 2008. Simulated AOD reached as high as 0.81.2 in Indochina situated between 10228N and 951078E. According to the simulation results, 34 % of the AOD was attributed to organic carbon over Indochina, while the contribution of black carbon to AOD was about 4%. During the study period, biomass-burning aerosols over Indochina have a net negative effect (26.85W m2) at ground surface, a positive effect (22.11W m2) in the atmosphere and a negative forcing (4.74W m2) at the top of atmosphere. Under the influence of biomass-burning aerosol