Abstract
The problem of the ongoing climate change resulting from natural and growing anthropogenic factors acquires a particular importance for the territory of the Caucasus. Dust aerosol represent one of the main pollutants on the territory of Georgia and impact on regional climate. In this study, the WRF Chemistry model with dust module is used to study transportation of dust to the territory of the South Caucasus from the Sahara and Sahel in Africa, Arabian and ar-Rub’ al-Khali deserts located in the Middle East, Kyzylkum, Karakum in the Central Asia. The results of calculations have shown the WRF model was able to simulate dust aerosols transportation to the Caucasus reliably in conditions of the complex topography and that dust aerosol is an important factor in the climate system of the South Caucasus.
Highlights
According to Georgian National Environment Agency (GNEA) dust aerosols represent one of the main pollutants on the territory of Georgia
Transportation of dust to the South Caucasus in general and Georgia in particular is associated with the low- and mid-tropospheric flows from the Mediterranean and Black Seas in the west, from the Caspian – Central Asia regions in the east and warm advection from the Middle East in the south [10]
On the 23 March 2018, snow and rain of redbrown colour were registered in the town of Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast and in Georgian capital Tbilisi
Summary
According to Georgian National Environment Agency (GNEA) dust aerosols represent one of the main pollutants on the territory of Georgia. A combination of isotopic analysis of two sets of samples extracted and collected on the Western Plateau on Mt. Elbrus had shown 17 dust aerosols deposition events at elevation of 5115 m a.s.l. While 13 events originated in the Middle East (in the Syrian Desert and northern Mesopotamia), only four events originated in the Sahara (in north-eastern Libya and eastern Algeria) [5]. Investigations performed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis of the first ever extracted ice core (18 m) of the Mt. Kazbek plateau glacier (at ~4500 m a.s.l.) has shown that dust of local origin was composed mainly by products of weathering of magmatic rocks, while clay minerals were a characteristic of dust carried over large distances, from the deserts of the Middle East and Sahara [9]. Transportation of desert dust from the Sahara, Arabian and ar-Rub’ al-Khali deserts in the Middle East, Kyzylkum, Karakum and the Aral Sea’s the great salty basin in Central Asia, its deposition over the South Caucasus has been investigated using WRF Chem model version 3.6.1
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