Effects of low-carbon energy adoption on airborne particulate matter concentrations with feedbacks to future climate over California

California plans to reduce emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs) through adoption of new energy systems that will also lower concentrations of short-lived absorbing soot contained in airborne particulate matter (PM). Here we examine the direct and indirect effects of reduced PM concentrationsunder a low-carbon energy (GHG-Step) scenario on radiative forcing in California.  Simulations were carried out using the source-oriented WRF/Chem (SOWC) model over California with 12 km spatial resolutionfor the year 2054. The avoided aerosol emissions due to technology advances in the GHG-step scenario reduce ground level PM concentrations by ~8.85% over landcompared to the Business as Usual (BAU) scenario, but changes to meteorological parameters are more modest.  Top of atmospheric forcing predicted by the SOWC model increased by 0.15 W m-2, surface temperature warmedby 0.001 K, and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH)increased by 2.20 cm in the GHG-Step scenario compared to the BAU ...