The Direct Radiative Forcing Impact of Agriculture‐Emitted Black Carbon Associated With India's Green Revolution. Issue 6 (4th June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Xinrui; Zhang, Xiaodong; Huang, Yufei; Chen, Kaijie; Wang, Linfei; Ma, Jianmin; Huang, Tao; Zhao, Yuan; Gao, Hong; Tao, Shu; Liu, Junfeng; Jian, Xiaohu; Luo, Jinmu
• Is Part Of: Earth's future. Volume 9:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-06-04
• Subjects: Black carbon -- CESM2 -- climate change -- food production -- Green Revolution -- sustainable agriculture development; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences; Periodicals; 550
• DOI: 10.1029/2021EF001975
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2328-4277

Abstract

Abstract: Biomass burning contributes considerably to black carbon (BC) emissions in South Asia, but such emissions have not been linked with the Green Revolution (GR) which has enabled substantial crop production growth in South Asian countries, India in particular. Here, we use an Earth system model to quantify climate change through the direct radiative forcing (DRF) by agriculture‐emitted BC associated with the GR in India. We show that the BC DRF in India has increased significantly since the GR, especially during the post‐GR period. The estimated BC DRF in India rose from +0.197 W/m 2 in 1961 to +0.805 W/m 2 in 2011; this represents a fourfold increase in DRF since the onset of the GR. The contribution of BC DRF by India's intensive agriculture to the global BC forcing also increased from 2.6% to 4.4% during the GR. Our results reveal that increasing BC emissions associated with the GR raises the importance of emission mitigation from agriculture source. Plain Language Summary: Black carbon originated from incomplete combustion can endanger human health and contaminate the environment. The light‐absorbing nature of black carbon is of vital importance to regional and global climate. Emissions from agriculture sources consist of large portion of black carbon particles, especially in India with intensive agriculture. The GR aiming at improving agriculture development in India has accomplished great success since the 1960s, but its side effects on long‐term climate change have not been assessed. In the present study, we quantify black carbon contamination and DRF induced by agriculture activities including crop residue burning from 1961 to 2011 during which the GR has been operated. Our results reveal that agricultural emission in India is an important sector contributing to the local and regional climate forcing. Such contribution could extend to the global climate. We propose that considerable and continuous efforts need to be made to control agriculture emissions in India to achieve a sustainable GR, in the meanwhile, mitigate the climate change. Key Points: Agricultural emission in India is an important sector contributing to the local and regional black carbon contamination and climate forcing Estimated regional black carbon direct radiative forcing in India showed a fourfold increase during the operation of the Green Revolution (GR) The contribution of India's intensive agriculture associated with GR to global black carbon climate forcing grew significantly