| Anthropogenic emissions and concentrations of aerosol precursors and aerosols over China are among the highest in major countries of the world. Due to large emissions of soot and dust, aerosol absorption is high. Based on the observed direct and diffuse irradiance, a single scattering albedo of about 0.8 is derived for two large agri/eco/industrial areas. Aerosol direct effect can exert various environmental impacts in China. Photochemical activities in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are significantly reduced because of reductions in photolysis rates and in emissions of biogenic hydrocarbons. Crop yields under optimal conditions can be reduced due to the reduction in surface solar irradiance.; The most significant aerosol radiative perturbation is in changing the air-surface interaction and diurnal evolution of ABL. Reductions in various surface heat fluxes due to aerosols depend on soil moisture. Over a relatively dry surface, the evaporation has a small change, leading to the largest decrease of surface skin temperature at noon. Over a relatively wet surface, a substantial reduction in evaporation results in the largest surface cooling in the early morning. The diurnal temperature range (DTR) can be reduced by an amount comparable to the observed decrease of DTR. The longwave absorption of aerosols can lead to an increase of the daily minimum temperature and contributes to about 20% of the decrease in the DTR. The near-surface air temperature has the largest cooling in the early morning because the ABL is shallow and the temperature is sensitive to the radiative perturbation. As a result of the reduced sensible heat flux, the surface layer becomes more stable. Moreover, the aerosol heating enhances the stabilization of surface layer and in turn further reduces the sensible heat flux. As a result the ABL height can be reduced substantially. This will have many important ramifications, including trapping/accumulation of air pollutants, and perturbing the water vapor budget and distribution in the ABL. Our model predicts that the relative humidity (RH) in most of the ABL increases, but the maximum RH near the top of ABL decreases. This implies that aerosols may increase the probability of fog formation, but inhibit cloud formation near the top of ABL.; The results of our study can have a significant impact on the sustainable development in China. |
