Collaborative Research: Analyses, Measurements and Modeling in Support of the Asian Monsoon Chemical and Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP)

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This effort involves an aircraft study of the chemistry and dynamics of the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM). This atmospheric circulation takes place in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and spans the Pacific Ocean east of Asia westward to the Middle East. The vertical transport of pollutants within the ASM can have a global impact on atmospheric chemistry and radiation. This project includes the training of graduate students and post-doctoral scientists.The four main objectives of the project are: (1) Investigate the transport pathway of the ASM uplifted air from inside of the anticyclone to the global upper troposphere-lower stratosphere (UTLS); (2) Sample the chemical content of air processed in the ASM to ascertain its role in UTLS ozone chemistry, and in re-distributing active species and short-lived climate forcers to examine the respective roles of Asian pollution and the monsoon strength in chemistry and climate, and to understand two-way coupling between chemistry and climate. Chemical tracers of different lifetimes can also help characterize the ASM uplifting time scales, which are difficult for the models to estimate; (3) Obtain information on aerosol size, mass and chemical composition necessary for determining the radiative impact of the ASM, for constraining models of aerosol formation and for contrasting the organic-rich ASM UTLS aerosol population with that of sulfate-rich volcanic plumes and the background aerosol population; and (4) Measure the water vapor distribution associated with the monsoon dynamical structure to evaluate transport across the tropopause, and determine the role of the ASM in water vapor transport into the stratosphere.This project is scheduled to take place during July-August 2020 and will establish and expand collaborations between several academic institutions, government partners, and international institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.