Effects of Aerosols

EFFECTS OF AEROSOLS
AND CLOUD PROPERTIES ON

PRECIPITATION OVER INDIA REGION
Under the guidance
of
Prof.Dr.J.Karthikeyan
by
P. Jaswanth
AEROSOLS
• Atmospheric aerosols are tiny particles of solid or
liquid phase dispersed in the atmosphere.
• These aerosols are produced either by the
mechanical disintegration processes occurring
over land and ocean or by chemical reactions
occurring in the atmosphere.
• Aerosol can vary in size from 10-3to 102 µm
depending upon the source and production
mechanism.
ORIGIN OF THE ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL
Aerosol: dispersed condensed matter suspended in a gas
Size range: 0.001 mm (molecular cluster) to 100 mm (small raindrop)
Environmental importance: health (respiration), visibility, radiative balance,

cloud formation, heterogeneous reactions, delivery of nutrients…
Classification of aerosols
• Based on size
 Aitken particles or nucleation mode: (0.001-0.01µm radius)
 Large particles or accumulation mode: (0.1-1µm radius).
 Giant particles or course mode particles : (>1 µm radius).
• Based on origin
 Natural Aerosols
 Anthropogenic Aerosols
• Based on distribution characteristics
 Tropospheric Aerosols
 Stratosperic Aerosols
• Based on shape
 Isometric particles : same shape in 3-Dimentions
 Platelets particles : 2 long dimensions and one
small dimension.
 Fibers particles : great length in one dimension
compare to smaller length in other two
dimensions.
EFFECTS OF AEROSOL
• The major effects of aerosol on microphysical and macro

physical properties of cloud can be divided into 2
categories:
1)Indirect Effect
2)semi direct effect
(I) INDIRECT EFFECT
 Aerosols affect the properties of clouds, both their lifetimes and
cloud albedo.
a)1st Indirect Effect(Twomey
Effect):
For the same cloud water or ice
content more number but smaller
cloud particles reflect more solar
radiation. This can be explained by
the following equation –
• If there is more aerosol concentration, then the
cloud droplets will be smaller but more in
number
• We know that cloud optical depth(COD) increases
with increase in number Concentration. And the
above equation shows that as COD increases,
Cloud Albedo increases and vice-versa. Thus,
combining these two arguments –
• Aerosols => Higher COD => Higher Cloud

Albedo
b) 2nd Indirect Effect (Albrecht Effect) :
•When the water content is same,
each droplet of clean cloud will be
having more moisture and will be
larger as compared to clouds having
higher aerosol concentration.
•So, the force of gravity will be more
on droplets of clean cloud whereas in
the case of higher aerosol
concentrations, the droplets having
less weight will tend to stay longer in
the atmosphere without precipitation.
Hence, their lifetime in the
atmosphere increases.
(ii) Semi Direct Effect
• If in atmosphere a large number of aerosols are

absorbing and the clouds are co-located with aerosols,
then this effect is most prominent.
• Since, there is large is number of absorbing aerosols, so
large warming in atmosphere will take place.
• Thus, the clouds will be lifted above and also the
cloud water will evaporate.
• This would imply a reduction in Cloud Fraction.
• This is semi direct effect of aerosols on clouds.
AREA OF STUDY
Coordinates:
West:66
North:41
South:5.5
East:101
PARAMETERS
AEROSOL PARAMETER
• AOD = AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH AT 550 nm

• AAI = AEROSOL ABSORBING INDEX
MICRO-PHYSICAL AND MACRO-PHYSICAL CLOUD PARAMETERS-
• CER = CLOUD EFFECTIVE RADIUS

• COD = CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH
• CTT = CLOUD TOP TEMPERATURE
• CTP = CLOUD TOP PRESSURE
• CF = CLOUD FRACTION
• CWV = CLOUD WATER VAPOUR
Objectives
• To know the effects of aerosol and micro and macro

physical cloud properties over rainfall.
• To know the Rainfall on future years.
• To know the Aerosol Cloud Interaction.
1) AOD (AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH AT 550 nm unitless)
• The total aerosol optical depth is a measure of radiation

extinction due to aerosol scattering and absorption.
• Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is the measure of aerosols
distributed within a column of air from the sunphotometer
instrument (Earth's surface) to the top of the atmosphere.
• It is a dimensionless unit.
• The AOD data is taken from MODIS(
Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite of
550 nm range of Level 3 monthly 1X1 Degree Product of
year (2007 to 2014).
• An optical thickness of less than 0.1 indicates a crystal clear
sky with maximum visibility, whereas a value of 1 indicates
very hazy conditions.
2) AAI ( AEROSOL ABSORBING INDEX
unitless)
• The UV aerosol index, also called Absorbing
Aerosol index, is a qualitative indicator of near-
UV absorbing aerosol particles(360 and 331 nm
wavelength) such as smoke or mineral dust (no
indication of sulfate Aerosols).
• It is also unitless dimension
• AAI data is taken from Aura OMI Level 2G
satellite of grid 0.25°x0.25° (2007 to 2014).
3) CER (CLOUD EFFECTIVE RADIUS microns)
• cloud effective radius or effective radius) is a weighted mean of the size distribution

of cloud droplets.
• Mathematically, this can be expressed as
• where re is the effective radius,

• L is the liquid water content,
• N is the droplet concentration
• ρw is the water density,
• the effective radius ratio β is a dimensionless parameter
• MODIS satellite data of Level 3 monthly 1X1 Degree Product of year (2007 to
2014).
4) COD(CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH unitless)
• optical thickness and effective particle radius of stratiform
cloud layers from reflected solar radiation measurements.
• MODIS satellite data of Level 3 monthly 1X1 Degree
Product of year (2007 to 2014).
5) CTT (CLOUDTOPTEMPERATURE degress)
• Temperature of the upper surface of the cloud

• The CTT data is taken from MODIS data Level 3,
monthly 1X1 Degree Product.
6) CTP(CLOUD TOP PRESSURE hPa)
• Pressure of the upper surface of the cloud.

• The CTP data is taken from MODIS data Level 3,
monthly 1X1 Degree Product.
• CTP primarily represents the altitude of the cloud, with
higher CTP indicating low altitude and vice versa.
• Low CTP clouds are clouds, which would lead to
precipitation while high CTP clouds follow a process of
transformation to low CTP clouds leading to rainfall.
7) CF(CLOUD FRACTION unitless)
• Cloud Fraction is also called as Cloud Cover

• Cloud fraction is the measurement use to determine how
much of the Earth is covered by clouds.
• CF is measured by counting the number of pixels in a 25-
square-kilometer box (5 pixels tall by 5 pixels wide) that
are cloudy and dividing that number by 25
• The CF data is taken from MODIS data Level 3, monthly
1X1 Degree Product.
8) CWV (CLOUD WATER VAPOUR cm)
• Through the process of evaporation and transpiration,

water moves into the atmosphere.
• Water vapors then join with dust particles to create

clouds. Eventually, water returns to Earth as precipitation
in the form of rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
Rainfall(mm/month)
• Rainfall monthly mean data is taken from TRMM(Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite for the past 8 year
(2007 to 2014).
Tools Used
• By using Artificial Neural Networking(ANN tool) we can
predict future rainfall by using all remaining parameter.
• And also we use statistics tools like spss and Data mining
using algorithm using excel.

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Effects of Aerosols

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EFFECTS OF AEROSOLS

AND CLOUD PROPERTIES ON

Environmental importance: health (respiration), visibility, radiative balance,

• The major effects of aerosol on microphysical and macro

• Aerosols => Higher COD => Higher Cloud

• If in atmosphere a large number of aerosols are

• AOD = AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH AT 550 nm

MICRO-PHYSICAL AND MACRO-PHYSICAL CLOUD PARAMETERS-

• CER = CLOUD EFFECTIVE RADIUS

• To know the effects of aerosol and micro and macro

• The total aerosol optical depth is a measure of radiation

• cloud effective radius or effective radius) is a weighted mean of the size distribution

• where re is the effective radius,

• Temperature of the upper surface of the cloud

• Pressure of the upper surface of the cloud.

• Cloud Fraction is also called as Cloud Cover

• Through the process of evaporation and transpiration,

• Water vapors then join with dust particles to create

• Rainfall monthly mean data is taken from TRMM(Tropical

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