Sub-seasonal to Interannual variability of aerosols and CO in the upper troposphere linked to the Asian summer monsoon dynamical system
Friday, March 10, 2023 12pm to 1pm
About this Event
29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
In this talk, I will discuss the sub-seasonal to interannual variability of CO and aerosols in the upper troposphere that is connected to the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) dynamics. The ASM is a major weather phenomenon in the climate system located over the most populated and polluted regions of South and East Asia. The strong ASM convection lifts surface-generated trace gases and aerosols to the upper troposphere where they further spread out to the east and west by the energetic anticyclonic flow and frequent eddy shedding events. Therefore, the ASM system plays an important, determinative role in atmospheric composition in the climate-sensitive region of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. In this presentation, I will first discuss the interannual variability and trends of the ASM anticyclone (ASMA) in the past two decades (2000 and 2019) based on MERRA-2 reanalysis of meteorological fields, then examine the connections among the variabilities of ASMA, climate indices, and concentrations of aerosols and CO in the upper troposphere from the GEOS/GOCART model simulations and satellite observations. Lastly, I will show the sub-seasonal variability of different ASMA transport patterns between pollutants originating in South Asia and East Asia in the context of recent field experiments conducted in the Asian summer monsoon region.