Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Study on the Climate Impacts of the Atmospheric Brown Clouds

In this paper we review current research on Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) with lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and miniaturized instruments. The UAV technology for in-situ measurements, including aerosol concentration, aerosol size distribution, aerosol absorption, cloud drop size distribution, solar radiation fluxes (visible and broadband), and spectral radiative fluxes, is a leading-edge technology for cost-effective atmospheric sounding, which can fill the gap between the ground measurement and satellite observation. The first experimental observation with UAVs in Korea, Cheju ABC Plume Monsoon Experiment (CAPMEX), conducted during summer 2008 revealed that the Beijing plumes exerted a strong positive influence on the net warming and fossil-fuel-dominated black-carbon plumes were approximately 100% more efficient warming agents than biomass-burning-dominated plumes. Long-term sustainable routine UAV measurements will eventually provide truly three-dimensional data of ABCs, which is necessary for the better understanding of their climate impacts and for the improvement of numerical models for air pollution, weather forecast and climate change.

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