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SUMMARY:Biomass and Black Carbon particles over Peninsular India: How are 
 they affecting precipitation over the region? - Prof Satyajit Ghosh\, VIT 
 University\, India and Leeds University\, U.K.
DTSTART:20120910T131500Z
DTEND:20120910T143000Z
UID:TALK39288@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Alex Archibald
DESCRIPTION:The Indian media is currently awash with stories about insuffi
 cient rains from clouds this\nseason.  New research from the subcontinent 
 suggests that soot and black carbon emanating from mega cities may be affe
 cting the partitioning of cloud water into rain water.  These particles ar
 e also “short-lived climate forcers” and can contribute to climate cha
 nge substantially (by even as much as 25-30 % by some estimates).and if co
 ntrolled\, can also provide health and farming benefits. However\, incorpo
 rating black carbon particles derived from biomass burning into long term 
 climate model runs can be quite complicated. We present new research resul
 ts from VIT\, India\, and Leeds\, U.K. on how the inclusion of Biomass par
 ticles into localized air masses (which also contain the more common sulph
 ate aerosol and sea-salt particles) can significantly impact cloud formati
 on over a region. We have in particular\, looked at bio particle emissions
  from the burning of cow dung cakes and firewood over Chennai slums. In po
 lluted cities along peninsular India (Chennai and Kolkata among others) bi
 omass particles also contain soluble sulphates\, enabling them to activate
  into cloud droplets. It is found that the cloud droplet number concentrat
 ions are not always directly proportional to aerosol number concentrations
  and this may profoundly affect precipitation rates. The results from this
  study can be used for Environmental Impact Analyses\, Regional Pollution 
 Forecasts\, and eventually\, as inputs to climate models concerned with ae
 rosol and cloud effects. \n
LOCATION:Unilever Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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