Atmospheric dispersion modelling of dust emissions from the dried bottom of the Aral Sea

Abstract

The problem of spreading of harmful emissions from the dried part of the Aral Sea is extremely relevant for the Central Asian region, but it is also important for other countries of the near and far abroad in view of the transboundary transport of pollutants in the atmosphere. In order to solve the problem of predicting the distribution of the concentration of air pollutants, researchers are usually use mathematical tools. Modelling the processes of transport and diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere claims to address various factors, such as weather and climate conditions, soil erosion, physic and mechanical properties of aerosol particles, etc. Thus, this study was aimed to develop a model and computational algorithm for solving the problem. The particular attention was paid to the description of wind erosion since most emissions in the Aral Sea region occur by the removal of salt-dust particles from the soil surface. There were conducted a series of computational experiments using the developed mathematical apparatus. The obtained results presented in the paper are illustrating the influence of various factors on the process of atmospheric dispersion. Comparison of the results of computational experiments with experimental data showed sufficient agreement, which confirms the adequacy of the developed mathematical model of the process of spreading of fine aerosol particles in the atmosphere.