US-India Cooperative Research: Aerosol Optical Characterization and Investigation of Aerosol Radiative Forcing at the Surface and Top of the Atmosphere

该奖项支持美印合作研究项目“气溶胶光学特性和大气表面和顶部气溶胶辐射强迫的研究”。合作者是美国马里兰大学的Rachel Pinker教授和印度浦那热带气象研究所的G. Pandithurai教授和P.C.S. Devara教授。人为气溶胶造成的辐射强迫的影响是气候预测中最大的不确定性来源之一，特别是对知之甚少的热带气溶胶。ppi建议通过对热带地区强迫的直接观测来增加对气溶胶光学特性的认识。来自美国PI国内机构的用于表征气溶胶光学特性的辐射计将在印度部署，以增强现有的用于气溶胶主动和被动遥感的IITM仪器。范围：这项研究进一步加强了马里兰大学和IITM在气溶胶辐射效应方面的合作努力。潘迪图莱博士在马里兰大学做了两年博士后，从事与这项研究相关的领域的工作。拟议的活动将提供一套关于气溶胶光学特性、垂直分布及其辐射效应的连贯观测。它还将有助于将印度洋实验（INDOEX）获得的结果推广到其他大陆区域。该奖项由国际项目部和大气科学部联合支持。

0004471Pinker Description: This award supports a US-India cooperative research project on Aerosol Optical Characterization and Investigation of Aerosol Radiative Forcing at the Surface and Top of the Atmosphere. The collaborators are Professor Rachel Pinker, University of Maryland and Professors G. Pandithurai and P.C.S. Devara, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. The effect of radiative forcing by anthropogenic aerosols is one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate prediction, particularly for poorly understood tropical aerosols. The PIs propose to add to the knowledge of aerosol optical characteristics through direct observation of the forcing at a tropical site. A radiometer from the US PI's home institution for characterizing aerosol optical properties will be deployed in India to augment existing IITM instrumentation for both active and passive remote sensing of aerosols. Scope: This research further enhances current collaborative efforts between the University of Maryland and the IITM on radiative effects of aerosols. Dr. Pandithurai spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland and worked in the areas pertinent to this research. The proposed activity will provide a coherent set of observations on aerosol optical properties, their vertical distribution, and their radiative effects. It will also help extend the results obtained from the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) to other continental regions. This award is jointly supported by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Atmospheric Sciences.