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Linking powered by eXtyles Influence of South Asian Dust Storm on Aerosol Radiative Forcing at High-Altitude Station in Central Himalayas

A dust storm originating in the Thar Desert region during the second week of June 2006 was captured, for the first time, over a high-altitude station Nainital (29.4oN, 79.5oE, ~1958 m above msl) in the central Himalayas using a micro-pulsed lidar system. A drastic change in lidar backscatter profile was observed on dust day as compared to that on pre-dust day. The backscattering ratio (BSR) on dust day revealed the dust layer peaked at an altitude ~1300 m above ground level (AGL) extending up to ~3000 m AGL, with maximum BSR ~27. Aerosol Index and airmass back-trajectory analysis substantiate the transport of dust aerosols from far-off Thar Desert region to the experimental site. Significant effect of dust aerosols was also observed over the station on the daytime measured spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs), using Microtops-II spectroradiometer. It showed significantly different spectral behavior of aerosol optical depth on dust day as compared to that on pre-dust day. The Ångström exponent (α) showed a marked decrease from 0.42 to 0.04 during pre-dust to dust days. The aerosol radiative forcing estimated using the Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model in conjunction with Optical Properties of Aerosol and Cloud (OPAC) model, showed a value of about -30, -45, and +15 W m-2, respectively at top-of-atmosphere (TOA), surface and in the atmosphere on dust day. The positive atmosphere forcing caused heating of lower atmosphere by ~0.4 K day-1.