ON VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR AEROSOL TYPES OVER DIFFERENT PARTS OF ASIA

Abstract. Asia, being the largest continent, both in its size and population is affected by different types of atmospheric aerosols. Also, owing to different local emissions/sources along with the long range transport mechanisms, there is a large variability in the distribution of different types of aerosols across the continent. Not only the effects are pertinent to the regional and global climate system, but the loadings also affect human health. Though there have been studies in the past focussing on columnar distribution of aerosol types over Asian region at continental and regional scales, studies focussed on regional vertical distribution of major aerosol types over different regions of Asia need attention. This paper presents the decadal (2007–16) vertical distribution of major aerosol components, i.e., dust, polluted dust and smoke over different parts of Asia as seen from the space-borne lidar, i.e., Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarisation (CALIOP) onboard Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). Such a study can be useful in capacity building focussed on aerosol variability through remote sensing techniques.