The global impact of the transport sectors on atmospheric aerosol and climate

Abstract

We use the EMAC-MADE global aerosol model to quantify the impact of transport emissions (land-based transport, shipping, and aviation) on global aerosol for present-day (2000) and future (2030) scenarios under RCPs. We consider transport-induced changes in aerosol mass, number and size distributions and also estimate the resulting radiative forcings. Additional sets of model experiments are performed to further characterize: (i) the uncertainties deriving from the assumptions on the size distribution of transport-emitted particles; (ii) the non-linearity of the aerosol response to the transport-emission perturbations for different compounds; (iii) the changes in aerosol-induced climate forcings resulting from small changes in aerosol (and precursors) emissions.