Understanding Climatic Effects of Aerosols : Modeling Radiative Effects of Aerosols

Climate on the Earth is a highly dynamic and complex system in which aerosols have been increasingly recognized as a key component. While the production, transport and fate of aerosols are fundamentally determined by the elements of climate, such as wind and and precipitation, aerosols may affect the Earth's climate through complex processes of absorbing and reflecting the incoming solar and the outgoing terrestrial radiation, and indirectly affecting solar and terrestrial radiation by changing the properties of clouds, in addition to participating in heterogeneous reactions that affect key atmospheric constituents. Due to inherent complexities, coupled with modeling limitations, quantifying the aerosols' climate effects is still highly uncertain and, thus, presents a challenging aspect of climate research. In this chapter, the elements of arosol-climate interactions and the uncertainties underlying aerosol-climate modeling are reviewed. Climatic implications of radiative forcing are discussed.