SGER: Emissions from Biomass Combustion and Other Sources in the Indian Continent

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

One of the findings from the NSF and DOE-supported Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) is that unusually large black soot concentrations over the Indian Ocean produce low-level atmospheric column warming, a new finding with possibly profound implications for future climate change. Heretofore, atmospheric aerosols were thought to cool. This is still the case, however, we now know that in addition to aerosols that reflect sunlight back to space, e.g., "white" sulfates, soot - containing aerosols warm, and can potentially impact the climate and hydrological cycle. During INDOEX, the PI and his students and colleagues documented the presence of high concentrations of large black soot aerosols over the Indian Ocean downwind (South-south west) of the Indian subcontinent. Knowledge of the sources that contribute to these aerosols is currently lacking. The PI will work with colleagues in India to produce: This one year research initiation project, we hope to produce: 1. Source profiles for five or more biomass source types and one or more local coals that document the size and chemical composition distribution of primary particle emissions from those sources; 2. An improved (but still preliminary) overall particulate matter emissions inventory for India; 3. A research plan that identifies the major remaining gaps in the inventory and explains how those gaps can and should be filled through further experiments and data analyses. This work is important because of its potential to increase knowledge about sources of man-made atmospheric pollution and its effect on climate.