Aerosols from biomass burning can alter the radiative balance of the Earth by reflecting and absorbing solar radiation1. Whether aerosols exert a net cooling or a net warming effect will depend on the aerosol type and the albedo of the underlying surface2. Here, we use a satellite-based approach to quantify the direct, top-of-atmosphere radiative effect of aerosol layers advected over the partl...

A novel method for calibration and quantitative aerosol optical property retrieval from Doppler wind lidars (DWLs) is presented in this work. Due to the strong wavelength dependence of the atmospheric molecular backscatter and the low sensitivity of the coherent DWLs to spectrally broad signals, calibration methods for aerosol lidars cannot be applied to coherent DWLs usually operating at wavel...

Aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) for cloud water droplets, and changes in aerosol concentrations have significant microphysical impacts on the corresponding cloud properties. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol and cloud properties are combined with NCEP Reanalysis data for six different regions around the globe between March 2000 and December 2005 to st...

A cloud-masking algorithm based on the spatial variability of reflectances at the top of the atmosphere in visible wavelengths was developed for the retrieval of aerosol properties by MODIS. It is shown that the spatial pattern of cloud reflectance as observed from space is very different from that of aerosols. Clouds show a very high spatial variability in the scale of a hundred metres to a fe...

Chitosan-graft-polyethylenimine (CHI-g-PEI) copolymer has been used for theimprovement of low transfection efficiency of chitosan. The present study aims to test thepulmonary toxicity and efficiency of CHI-g-PEI as an aerosol gene carrier. Mice were exposedto aerosol containing green-fluorescent protein (GFP)-polyethylenimine (PEI) or GFP-CHIg-PEI complexes for 30 min during the development of ...

Aerosol indirect effects are the most uncertain of the climate forcing mechanisms that have operated through the industrial period. Several studies have demonstrated modifications of cloud properties due to aerosols and corresponding changes in shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes under specific cloud conditions, but some recent studies have indicated that cloud dynamical processes such as e...

BACKGROUND There is an urgent need for an improved understanding of the sources, distributions and properties of atmospheric aerosol in order to control the atmospheric pollution over northeastern Himalayas where rising anthropogenic interferences from rapid urbanization and development is becoming an increasing concern. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS An extensive aerosol sampling program was...