Radiative Forcing of Carbonaceous Aerosols over Two Urban Environments in Northern India Abhilash S. Panicker , Rathod Aditi, Gufran Beig, Kaushar Ali, Fabien Solmon

Received: January 27, 2017
Revised: December 2, 2017
Accepted: December 15, 2017
Download Citation: RIS|BibTeX|https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.01.0056  

Cite this article:
Panicker, A.S., Aditi, R., Beig, G., Ali, K. and Solmon, F. (2018). Radiative Forcing of Carbonaceous Aerosols over Two Urban Environments in Northern India. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 18: 884-894. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.01.0056

HIGHLIGHTS

ABSTRACT

The radiative forcing of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) has been estimated over two urban environments in Northern India (Jabalpur [JBL] and Udaipur [UDPR]) from November 2011 till November 2012 (till September 2012 over Jabalpur). The elemental carbon concentrations reached 7.36 ± 1.99 µg m^–3 over JBL and were as high as 10.78 ± 4.85 µg m^–3 over UDPR, whereas the corresponding OC concentrations were much higher in different months (as high as 19.37 ± 12.6 µg m^–3 over JBL and 39.71 ± 13.05 µg m^–3 over UDPR). The radiative forcing for OC and EC has been estimated using an optical model along with a radiative transfer model. The surface OC radiative forcing was found to range from –2.19 ± 1.93 W m^–2 to –3.083 ± 2.29 W m^–2 over JBL and –1.97 ± 1.37 to –5.89 ± 2.17 W m^–2 over UDPR, whereas the estimated top of the atmosphere (TOA) forcing ranged from –0.87 ± 0.49 to –1.87 ± 0.90 W m^–2 over JBL and from –1.23 ± 0.31 to –3.44 ± 1.51 W m^–2 over UDPR. However, the effect of EC forcing (as high as –21.75 W m^–2 at the surface of and +6.3 W m^–2 at TOA over JBL and –38.21 W m^–2 at the surface of and +5.05 W m^–2 at TOA over UDPR) was found to be more than tenfold higher than OC forcing due to its strong atmospheric absorption, in spite of much lower concentrations compared to OC.

Keywords: Elemental carbon; Organic carbon; Radiative forcing.