Abstract
Understanding the role of aerosols in global and regional climate change requires the long-term measurements of aerosol optical properties. We use an indirect method to infer aerosol optical depths (AODs) based on atmospheric visibility and water vapor pressure measured at 504 key climate stations in eastern China (east of 100° E) over 1951–2002. Inferred AODs are compared with the MODIS satellite measurements for year of 2002. Results show that AODs averaged over 1951–2000 exhibit large values in Sichuan Basin and Changjiang River Delta, and there are two belts of high AODs, one from Beijing to South China by the middle reaches of Changjiang River and the other from Beijing to Changjiang Delta. Inferred AODs in eastern China show the lowest value in 1960s, increase dramatically in 1980s, and reach maximum in 1990s. The ratios of the regional and decadal mean AOD in 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to that in 1960s are 1.085, 1.0, 1.066, 1.195, and 1.22, respectively. Statistical analysis shows that variations in AODs correlate with the changes in precipitation and air temperature in eastern China over the past 50 years. Correlation coefficients between annual mean AOD and precipitation are 0.39, 0.37, and 0.57 in the upper (Sichuan Basin), middle, and lower reaches of the Changjiang River, respectively. In the Sichuan Basin, the increase in annual mean AOD correlates with the reduction in air temperature with a correlation coefficient of −0.33 at 95% confidence level.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chen L-X, Shao Y-N (1991) Preliminary analysis of temperature variation for recent forty years over China (in Chinese). Quar J App Meteor 2:164–173
Chen L-X, Shao Y-N, Ren Z-H (1994) Climate change in China during the past 70 years and its relationship to the monsoon variations. In: Zeep RG (ed) Climate-biosphere interactions. Willey, New York, pp 31–50
Chen L-X, Zhu W-Q, Zhou X-J, Zhou Z-J (2000) Characteristics of environmental and climate change in Changjiang Delta and its possible mechanism. Acta Meteor Sin 14:129–140
Elterman L (1970) Relationships between vertical attenuation and surface meteorological range. Appl Optics 9:1804–1810
IPCC, 2001: Climate change (2001) The scientific-basis, Chap. 5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 289–342
Li X-W, Zhou X-J, Li W-L (1995) The cooling of Sichuan province in recent 40 years and it’s probable mechanisms. Acta Meteor Sin 57–68
Li C, Mao J, Lau Kai-Hon A, Chen L-C, Yuan Z, Liu X, Zhu A, Liu G (2003) Characteristics of distribution and seasonal variation of Aerosol optical depth in the eastern China with MODIS products. Chin Sci Bull 48(22):2488–2495
Luo Y-F, Lu D-R, He Q, Li W-L, Zhou X-J (2000) Characteristics of atmospheric aerosol optical depth variation over China in recent 30 years. Chin Sci Bull 45:1328–1333
Luo Y-F, Lu D-R, Zhou X-J (2001) Characteristics of the spatial distribution and yearly variation of aerosol optical depth over China in last 30 years. J Geophys Res 106(D13):14501–14513
Menon S, Hansen J, Nazarenko L, Luo Y (2002) Climate effects of black carbon aerosols in China and India. Science 297:2250–2252
Qiu J-H (1998) A method to determine atmospheric aerosol optical depth using total direct solar radiation. J Atomos Sci 55(5):744–757
Qiu J-H, Lin Y-R (2001) A parameterization model of aerosol optical depths in China. Acta Meteor Sin 59:368–372
Zhou X-J, Li W-L, Luo Y-F (1998) Numerical simulation of the aerosol radiative forcing and regional climate effect over China. Acta Meteor Sinica 22:418–227
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof. Mao J.-T. for providing the MODIS data and Prof. Qiu J.- H. for his valuable suggestions and comments. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the grant 49899270 and 40121120826, National Basic Research Program of China 973 under the grant 2006CB403705.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, LX., Zhang, B., Zhu, WQ. et al. Variation of atmospheric aerosol optical depth and its relationship with climate change in China east of 100°E over the last 50 years. Theor Appl Climatol 96, 191–199 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-008-0023-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-008-0023-7