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    Original Research Papers

    Comment on “Air pollution and precipitation suppression over SE Australia: critical review of evidence presented by Rosenfeld (2000) and Rosenfeld (2006)” by Greg Ayers

    Authors:

    Daniel Rosenfeld ,

    Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IL
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    Jim Peterson,

    School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, AU
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    Aron Gingis

    Australian Management Consolidated Pty. Ltd, AU
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    Abstract

    Rosenfeld (2000, hereafter R00), in applying newsatellite methodology to analyse case studies in Southeastern Australia and elsewhere, provided evidence that urban and industrial air pollution can suppress precipitation from shallow clouds. He concluded that ‘Air pollution must be an important factor in determining the precipitation amounts in the Snowy Mountains’. These satellite observations were the impetus for our proposed detailed follow-on research program to further validate and quantify these inferences, publicly offered in Rosenfeld et al. (2006, hereafter R06) and repeated here, thereby recognizing the remaining large uncertainties. In response, Ayers (2009, hereafter A09) attempts to deny the significance and validity of the observations of R00. His scientific arguments are refuted here. Furthermore, A09 wrote erroneously that ‘a hypothesis that air pollution in the form of small particles has caused a secular decrease in precipitation over SE Australia was advanced by Rosenfeld (2000), who concluded that the hypothesis was proven.’ But R00 did not make such a claim, although this is a viable hypothesis that warrants testing (R06). In fact, R00 wrote: ‘trend analyses of snow, winter temperature, and total winter rainfall for the period 1910–1991 showed statistically insignificant decreases. . . (Duus, 1992)’.

    How to Cite: Rosenfeld, D., Peterson, J. and Gingis, A., 2009. Comment on “Air pollution and precipitation suppression over SE Australia: critical review of evidence presented by Rosenfeld (2000) and Rosenfeld (2006)” by Greg Ayers. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 61(4), pp.694–700. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2009.00434.x
      Published on 01 Jan 2009
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 3 Jun 2009            Submitted on 18 Mar 2009

    References

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    2. Ayers , G . 2009. Air pollution and precipitation suppression over SE Australia: critical review of evidence presented by Rosenfeld (2000) and Rosenfeld (2006). Tellus 61B, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2009.00433.x .  

    3. Duus , A. L . 1992 . Estimation and analysis of snow cover in the Snowy Mountains between 1900 and 1991 . AusL MeteoroL Mag . 40 , 195 – 204 .  

    4. Harasymiw , B. and McGee , J . 1993. Snowy Precipitation Enhancement Project—Draft EIS, SMHEA 1993.  

    5. Levin , Z. and Cotton , W . 2009 . Aerosol Pollution Impact on Pre-cipitation: A Scientific Review . Springer , Netherlands , 2009, ISBN 140208689X, 9781402086892, pp . 386 .  

    6. Rosenfeld , D . 1999 . TRMM observed first direct evidence of smoke from forest fires inhibiting rainfall . Geophys. Res. Lett . 26 ( 20 ), 3105 – 3108 .  

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    8. Rosenfeld , D. and Woodley , W. L . 2003 . Closing the 50-year circle: From cloud seeding to space and back to climate change through precipitation physics. In: Cloud Systems, Hurricanes, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), Chapter 6 (eds Drs. Wei-Kuo Tao and Robert Adler) 59-80, Meteorological Monographs 51, AMS. Rosenfeld, D., Rudich, Y. and Lahav, R. 2001. Desert dust suppressing precipitation—a possible desertification feedback loop . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci . 98 , 5975 – 5980 .  

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    10. Rosenfeld , D. , Lensky , I. M. , Peterson , J. and Gingis , A. 2006. Potential impacts of air pollution aerosols on precipitation in Australia. Clean Air Environ. QuaL 40(2), 43 – 49.  

    11. Rosenfeld , D. , Woodley , W. L. , Axisa , D. , Freud , E. , Hudson , J.G. and co-authors. 2008a. Aircraft measurements of the impacts of pollu-tion aerosols on clouds and precipitation over the Sierra Nevada. J. Geophys. Res . 113 , D15203, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009544 .  

    12. Rosenfeld , D. , Lohmann , U. , Raga , G. B. , O'Dowd , C. D. , Kulmala , M. and co-authors. 2008b. Flood or drought: how do aerosols affect precipitation? Science 321, 1309 – 1313.  

    13. Rosenfeld , D. , Woodley , W. L. , Lerner , A. , Kelman , G. and Lindsey , D. T . 2008c . Satellite detection of severe convective storms by their retrieved vertical profiles of cloud particle effective ra-dius and thermodynamic phase , J. Geophys. Res . 113 , D04208 , https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008600 .  

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