Bourns College of Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Water Energy Climate Nexus

    Impact of Aerosol on Precipitation and Snow Water Equivalent

    Aerosols warm the California mountain tops through aerosol-snow interaction by local dust but cools the lower elevation areas through aerosol-radiation interaction and aerosol-cloud interaction by transported and local anthropogenic aerosols.

    Aerosols reduce precipitation and snowpack in California primarily through aerosol-cloud interaction by transported and local anthropogenic aerosols and aerosol-snow interaction by local dust.

    Aerosols cause earlier snowmelt at mountain tops through aerosol-snow interaction by local dust, leading to reduced surface runoff after April.

    Scale

    Impact of Aerosol on Inflows

    The presence of aerosols results in significant reduction of annual reservoir inflows by 4% - 14% in California.

    In the summer, aerosols reduce precipitation, snow water equivalent, and snowmelt which leads to a reduction in inflow by 11%-26%.

    Scale

    Publications

    [J16] Farzana Kabir, Nanpeng Yu, Weixin Yao, Longtao Wu, and Jonathan Jiang, "Impact of Aerosol on Reservoir Inflows: A Case Study for Big Creek Hydroelectric System in California," in press, Hydrological Processes, 2018.

    [J15] Longtao Wu, Yu Gu, Jonathan Jiang, Hui Su, and Nanpeng Yu, "Impacts of Aerosol on Seasonal Precipitation and Snowpack in California Based on Convective-resolving WRF-Chem Simulations," Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 18, pp. 5529-5547, 2018.

    [J12] Longtao Wu, Hui Su, Olga Kalashnikova, Jonathan Jiang, Chun Zhao, Michael Garay, James Campbell, and Nanpeng Yu, "WRF-Chem Simulation of Aerosol Seasonal Variability in the San Joaquin Valley," Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 17, pp. 7291-7309, 2017.

    [C27] Farzana Kabir, Nanpeng Yu, Balakrishna Sastry, and Vibhu Kaushik, " Impacts of Aerosols on Hydropower Generation: A Case Study for Big Creek Hydroelectric System in California," submitted to IEEE Power and Energy Society Grand International Conference and Exposition Asia, 2019.