Satellite observations of aerosols and clouds over southern China from 2006 to 2015: analysis of changes and possible interaction mechanisms

Benas, Nikos; Meirink, Jan Fokke; Karlsson, Karl-Göran; Stengel, Martin; Stammes, Piet

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-457-2020

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-457-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-457-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

Research article

|

14 Jan 2020

Research article |

| 14 Jan 2020

Satellite observations of aerosols and clouds over southern China from 2006 to 2015: analysis of changes and possible interaction mechanisms

Nikos Benas, Jan Fokke Meirink, Karl-Göran Karlsson, Martin Stengel, and Piet Stammes

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-457-2020-supplement

Data sets

MODIS aerosol and cloud data LAADS DAAC https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/

MISR data ZMAW ftp://ftp-projects.zmaw.de/aerocom/

CALIPSO aerosol data ASDC https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/project/calipso/cal_lid_l3_apro_allsky-standard-v3-00

GFED data GFED https://www.geo.vu.nl/~gwerf/GFED/GFED4/

CLARA-A2 cloud data CM SAF https://www.cmsaf.eu/

LIVAS cloud data NOA http://lidar.space.noa.gr:8080/livas

CAMS data ECCAD https://eccad3.sedoo.fr/#CAMS-GLOB-ANT

GPCP data GPCP http://gpcp.umd.edu/

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Short summary

In this study we analyse aerosol and cloud changes over southern China from 2006 to 2015 and investigate their possible interaction mechanisms. Results show decreasing aerosol loads and increasing liquid cloud cover in late autumn. Further analysis based on various satellite data sets shows consistency with the aerosol semi-direct effect, whereby less absorbing aerosols in the cloud layer would lead to an overall decrease in the evaporation of cloud droplets, thus increasing cloud amount.