Associative study of Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) and precipitation in India during monsoon season (2005 to 2014)

Based on their interaction with solar radiations, aerosols may be categorized as absorbing or scattering in nature. The absorbing aerosols are coarser and influence precipitation mainly due to microphysical effect (participating in the formation of Cloud Condensation Nuclei) and radiative forcing (by absorbing electromagnetic radiations). The prominent absorbing aerosols found in India are Black Carbon, soil dust, sand and mineral dust. Their size, distribution, and characteristics vary spatially and temporally. This paper aims at showing the spatio-temporal variation of Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) and precipitation over the four most polluted zones of Indian sub-continent (Indo-Gangetic plains 1, Indo-Gangetic plains 2, Central and Southern India) for monsoon season (June, July, August, September) during the last decade (2005 to 2014). Zonal averages AAI have been found to be exhibiting an increasing trend, hence region-wise correlations have been computed between AAI and precipitation during monsoon. Daily Absorption Aerosol Index (AAI) obtained from Aura OMI Aerosol Global Gridded Data Product-OMAEROe (V003) and monthly precipitation from TRMM 3B42-V7 gridded data have been used.