Three dimensional aerosol-cloud structure in China from space: Implications for aerosol indirect effect

In this study, we plot a 3D aerosol map over China mainland based on CALIPSO and MODIS aerosol product combined, which is height-resolved. We can see there are several hot spots in terms of aerosol loadings across China, such as Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta. Also, the maximum height that aerosol can reach were figured out based on the aerosol vertical profiles. Generally, this height is consistent with the planetary boundary layer height, less than 2km. Meanwhile, we attempted to sort out the aerosol indirect effect on cloud, by plotting Contoured Frequency by Altitude Diagram (CFAD) of cloud reflectivity from Cloudsat. It demonstrated that cloud tended to be restrained under heavy aerosol conditions.