Yu, P, Toon, OB, Neely, RR et al. (2 more authors) (2015) Composition and physical properties of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer and the North American Tropospheric Aerosol Layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (7). 2540 - 2546. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
Recent studies revealed layers of enhanced aerosol scattering in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over Asia (Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL)) and North America (North American Tropospheric Aerosol Layer (NATAL)). We use a sectional aerosol model (Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA)) coupled with the Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1) to explore the composition and optical properties of these aerosol layers. The observed aerosol extinction enhancement is reproduced by CESM1/CARMA. Both model and observations indicate a strong gradient of the sulfur-to-carbon ratio from Europe to the Asia on constant pressure surfaces. We found that the ATAL is mostly composed of sulfates, surface-emitted organics, and secondary organics; the NATAL is mostly composed of sulfates and secondary organics. The model also suggests that emission increases in Asia between 2000 and 2010 led to an increase of aerosol optical depth of the ATAL by 0.002 on average which is consistent with observations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
Keywords: | ATAL; NATAL |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Dec 2015 16:47 |
Last Modified: | 04 Dec 2015 16:47 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063181 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2015GL063181 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:92072 |