Potential feedback between aerosols and meteorological conditions in a heavy pollution event over the Tibetan Plateau and Indo-Gangetic Plain

A regional climate model, WRF-Chem, was used to investigate the feedback between aerosols and meteorological conditions in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The numerical experiments (15-km horizontal resolution) with and without the aerosol effects are driven by reanalysis of data for 1–31 March 2009, when a heavy pollution event (13–19 March) occurred. The results showed that the model captured the spatial and temporal meteorological conditions and aerosol optical characteristics during the heavy pollution days. Aerosols induced cooling at the surface and warming in the middle troposphere due to their radiative effects, and resulted in a more stable PBL over the IGP. Aerosol-induced 2-m relative humidity (RH) was increased. The stable PBL likely led to the surface PM2.5 concentration increase of up to 21 μg m−3 (15 %) over the IGP. For the TP, the atmospheric profile did not drastically change due to fewer radiative effects of aerosols in the PBL compared with those over the IGP. The aerosol-induced RH decreased due to cloud albedo and cloud lifetime effect, and led to a reduction in surface PM2.5 concentration of up to 17 μg m−3 (13 %). These results suggest a negative and positive feedback over the TP and IGP, respectively, between aerosol concentrations and changes of aerosol-induced meteorological conditions. Similar positive feedbacks have been observed in other heavily polluted regions (e.g., the North China Plain). The results have implications for the study of air pollution on weather and environment over the TP and IGP.