Impact of Asian aerosols on air quality over the United States: A perspective from aerosol-cloud-radiation coupling

It has well been established, through satellite/ground observations, that dust and aerosols from various Asian sources can travel across the Pacific and reach North America (NA) at least on episode bases. Once reaching NA, these inflow aerosols would compete with local emissions to influence atmospheric composition and air quality over the United States (US). The previous studies, typically based on one or multiple satellite measurements in combination with global/regional model simulations, suggest that the impact of Asian dust/aerosols on US air quality tend to be small since most inflow aerosols stay aloft. On the other hand, aerosols affect many key meteorological processes that will ultimately channel down to impact air quality. Aerosols absorb and scatter solar radiation that change the atmospheric stability, thus temperature, wind, and planetary boundary layer structure that would directly alter air quality. Aerosols can serve as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei to modify cloud properties and precipitation that would also affect aerosol removal and concentration. This indirect impact of Asian aerosol inflow on US air quality may be substantial and need to be investigated. This study employs the NASA Unified WRF (NU-WRF) to address the question from the aerosol-radiation-cloud interaction perspective. The simulation period was selected from April to June of 2010 during which the Asian dust continuously reached NA based on CALIPSO satellite observation. The preliminary results show that the directly-transported Asian aerosol increases surface PM2.5 concentration by less than 2 μg/m3 over the west coast areas of US, and the aerosol-radiation-cloud feedback has a profound effect on air quality over the central to eastern US. A more detailed analysis links this finding to a series of meteorological conditions modified by aerosol effects.