Aerosol properties and their impacts on climate

Aerosol interaction with solar (or shortwave, SW) and terrestrial (or longwave, LW) radiation is a major source of uncertainty in characterizing radiative transfer in the Earth’s atmosphere impacting two areas of research – climate prediction and remote sensing. The former has been a focus of the various IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports. Here, the CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) summarizes the current knowledge of the aerosol interaction with radiation, with goal of informing the appropriate decision-making entities, of the role of various aerosol effects such as the direct effect and the cloud effects such as the first and second indirect effects and the semi-direct effect. The net effect of these interactions is thought to counter the warming due to the greenhouse gases, if not fully, at least partially.

The first draft of this product will be expertly peer reviewed, following the process described in the Guidelines for Producing CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products. The expert peer review process will consist of independent reviews from experts selected by the lead agency (NASA), and from a pool of candidates that will be identified in due course. Some of the candidates are already identified in the Prospectus, which has been developed. The expert peer review process will be no more than 30 days long. It will be conducted in accordance with NASA’s requirements for peer review and general guidelines from the Office of Management and Budget Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review (“OMB Peer Review Bulletin”) issued 16 December 2004.

According to CCSP guidance, expert (peer) reviewers are scientists or individuals with other special expertise appropriate to a product. The expert reviewers will be selected by the lead agency(ies) / departments. As is the case for lead and contributing authors, reviewers may be citizens of any country and be drawn from within or outside the Federal government (e.g., universities or other public or private sector organizations). These individuals shall be known through their publications and other forms of recognition of their expertise. Expert reviewers will focus on the scientific/technical content of the draft. Employees of the lead agency(ies), lead authors, and other contributors to the product may not serve as expert reviewers for that product. Peer reviewers will have particular expertise in the areas of aerosol interaction with solar and terrestrial radiation, clouds and cloud formation and climate change.

NASA plans on conducting the peer review of CCSP SAP 2.3 through the services of NASA Research and Education Support Services (NRESS) between October 1 and November 1, 2007.

Addressing the peer review comments the lead authors will produce a second draft of CCSP SAP 2.3. The draft will be available to the public in November via the CCSP website. Following disposition and documentation of public comments by the lead authors, in December a third draft of CCSP SAP 2.3 will be produced and submitted to the CCSP Interagency Committee for approval. For more information, see the public prospectus of CCSP SAP 2.3, located on the CCSP website. 

Lead Agency Contact:

Rangasayi N. Halthore,
NASA Headquarters
202-358-1780
rangasayi.n.halthore@nasa.gov