Warming trends in Asia amplified by brown cloud solar absorption

Veerabhadran Ramanathan (), Muvva V. Ramana, Gregory Roberts, Dohyeong Kim, Craig Corrigan, Chul Chung and David Winker
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Veerabhadran Ramanathan: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Muvva V. Ramana: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Gregory Roberts: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Dohyeong Kim: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Craig Corrigan: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Chul Chung: Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
David Winker: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23681-0001, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 448, issue 7153, 575-578

Abstract: The heat is on By 2001, it was realized that the thick brown haze discovered over the Arabian Sea during the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX: 1997-1999) was a persistent dry-season feature above Southern Asia. A UNEP report in 2002 raised concerns of major climate disruption if the sources of the haze, including biomass burning, were not controlled. NASA's TERRA satellite has since detected similar atmospheric brown clouds (ABCs) elsewhere. Atmospheric solar heating and surface dimming due to ABCs both drive climate change, and to quantify that change we need direct measurements like the two datasets presented this week. First, three stacked, autonomous, unmanned aircraft measured solar heating above the Indian Ocean. Second, the CALIPSO satellite tracked a 3-km-thick haze from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayas. Climate modelling with the data suggests that ABC-induced atmospheric warming resembles that induced by greenhouse gases, a possible explanation for Himalayan glacier retreat.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06019

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