Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX)
Regional consequences of global warming depend critically on the
potentially large cooling effect of another pollutant, known as aerosols.
These tiny particles, of about a millionth of a centimeter or smaller in
diameter, scatter sunlight back to space and cause a regional cooling
effect. These aerosols consisting of sulfates, soot, organic carbon and
mineral dust are produced both naturally and by human activities.
Results of numerous global warming models suggest that the aerosol cooling
is one of the largest, if not the largest, sources of uncertainty in
predicting future climate. Still, the complex influence of aerosol cooling
on global warming is not clearly understood. This issue will remain a
mystery unless field experiments, such as the Indian Ocean Experiment
(INDOEX), are undertaken to collect in-situ data on the regional cooling
effect of sulfate and other aerosols.
INDOEX addresses questions of climate change that are of high priority and
great value to the US and the international community. The project's goal
is to study natural and anthropogenic climate forcing by aerosols and
feedbacks on regional and global climate. This issue is at the core of the
International Global Change Research Program and has been identified by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a major gap in the
science of climate change prediction.
Premier environmental scientists, universities and national laboratories
from the US, Europe and Indian Ocean region are committed to INDOEX through
the support of their national global change research programs. In the US,
the National Science Foundation is the primary sponsor.
Collaborators
ALMD (IPSL, Ecole Polytechnqiue-Palaiseau), France; Center for Clouds,
Chemistry and Climate, SCRIPPS Institution for Oceanography,
University of California, San Diego, USA
Contact
V. Ramanathan
Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California, San Diego, USA
vramanathan@ucsd.edu
http://www-indoex.ucsd.edu/
http://www.lmd.ens.fr/INDOEX/