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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 112,
D09202,
doi:10.1029/2006JD007712,
2007
Have Australian rainfall and cloudiness increased due to the remote effects of Asian anthropogenic aerosols?
Leon D. Rotstayn
Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia
Wenju Cai
Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia
Martin R. Dix
Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia
Graham D. Farquhar
CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Yan Feng
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Paul Ginoux
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Michael Herzog
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Akinori Ito
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Joyce E. Penner
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Michael L. Roderick
CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Minghuai Wang
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Abstract
There is ample evidence that anthropogenic aerosols have important effects on climate in the Northern Hemisphere but little
such evidence in the Southern Hemisphere. Observations of Australian rainfall and cloudiness since 1950 show increases over
much of the continent. We show that including anthropogenic aerosol changes in 20th century simulations of a global climate
model gives increasing rainfall and cloudiness over Australia during 1951–1996, whereas omitting this forcing gives decreasing
rainfall and cloudiness. The pattern of increasing rainfall when aerosols are included is strongest over northwestern Australia,
in agreement with the observed trends. The strong impact of aerosols is primarily due to the massive Asian aerosol haze, as
confirmed by a sensitivity test in which only Asian anthropogenic aerosols are included. The Asian haze alters the meridional
temperature and pressure gradients over the tropical Indian Ocean, thereby increasing the tendency of monsoonal winds to flow
toward Australia. Anthropogenic aerosols also make the simulated pattern of surface-temperature change in the tropical Pacific
more like La Niña, since they induce a cooling of the surface waters in the extratropical North Pacific, which are then transported
to the tropical eastern Pacific via the deep ocean. Transient climate model simulations forced only by increased greenhouse
gases have generally not reproduced the observed rainfall increase over northwestern and central Australia. Our results suggest
that a possible reason for this failure was the omission of forcing by Asian aerosols. Further research is essential to more
accurately quantify the role of Asian aerosols in forcing Australian climate change.
Received 29
June
2006;
accepted 1
December
2006;
published 2
May
2007.
Keywords: Asian aerosols;
rainfall trends;
Australia.
Index Terms: 3311 Atmospheric Processes: Clouds and aerosols; 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 1626 Global Change: Global climate models (3337, 4928); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change.
Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 16746174 bytes)
Citation: Rotstayn, L. D., et al.
(2007),
Have Australian rainfall and cloudiness increased due to the remote effects of Asian anthropogenic aerosols?,
J. Geophys. Res.,
112,
D09202,
doi:10.1029/2006JD007712.
Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
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