Combined Impact of Aerosol Plus Greenhouse Gas Forcing on Surface Energy Budget and Water Cycle on a Multi-decadal Timescale

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project is an analysis of the separate contributions of greenhouse gases and tropospheric aerosols to the surface energy budget, including feedbacks associated with the hydrological cycle. The raw materials for the project are data on surface radiation and weather parameters from global and regional observing stations. The data will be used to test some of the current ideas about the positive and negative feedbacks associated with aerosols and changes in aerosol deposition rates. This work will be a step in the complicated but very important problem of determining the role aerosols play in climate, one of the major sources of uncertainty in the assessment of anthropogenic trends in climate variations.