Simulating the Transport of Aerosols with GEOS-5

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Aerosols play an important role in both weather and climate. They are transported around the globe far from their source regions, interacting with weather systems, scattering and absorbing solar and terrestrial radiation, and modifying cloud micro- and macro-physical properties. They are recognized as one of the most important forcing agents in the climate system (Forster et al. 2007). Aerosols can change cloud cover by heating the atmosphere; they can reduce snow and ice albedo by the deposition of absorbing aerosols and subsequent heating and melting of snow and ice (e.g., Yasunari et al. 2011). Several missions in the Decadal Survey portfolio (e.g., ACE, Geo-CAPE), as well as the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) mission, which will fly on the International Space Station (ISS), aim to get new information on aerosol distributions and properties.

 

http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/aerosol/modeling/nr1_movie/