Abstract
In this paper on the analysis of the vertical distribution of different-diameter dust aerosols and the potential impacts on East Asia, the sensitivity simulation tests of dust aerosols during 2002–03 were conducted by changing the underlying surface on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the global atmospheric circulation model Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) 3.1. The results show that dust aerosol particles in East Asia are mainly distributed in the diameters of 0.64–5.12 μm. The high concentrations of dust aerosols are centered on the surface in the source areas and gradually raised during the eastward transport across East Asia, reaching a height of 4 km at 120° E. The small dust particles with diameters less than 1.28 μm are transported higher and farther driven by the midlatitude westerlies. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau desertification leads to increasing concentrations of dust aerosols in all size bins and raisesthe transport height of dust aerosols in East Asia. The long-range transport in the East Asian troposphere is dominated by dust aerosols particles of diameters 0.64–2.56 μm, as well as a large contribution of dust aerosols with diameters larger than 1.28 μm.
Highlights
Dust aerosol is a major type of natural atmospheric aerosols
To understand the effects of dust aerosols and the serious plateau desertification, the dust aerosols in East Asia during 2002–03 were simulated by the global atmospheric circulation model Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) 3.1 in this paper
The vertical distribution characteristics of dust aerosols with different diameters in East Asia were analyzed, and the maximum probable contributions of differently size dust aerosols generated by the plateau desertification to the atmospheric aerosols in East Asia were discussed
Summary
Dust aerosol is a major type of natural atmospheric aerosols. The amount of dust aerosol emitted into the atmosphere is estimated up to 1000–3000 Tg every year, accounting for about half of the total tropospheric aerosol amount [1,2,3]. The indirect effect depends on the ability of particles to act as cloud-condensation nuclei or ice nuclei [7], which is mainly decided by the activation height of cloud droplets, the hygroscopicity and the size distribution of particles. To understand the effects of dust aerosols and the serious plateau desertification, the dust aerosols in East Asia during 2002–03 were simulated by the global atmospheric circulation model Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) 3.1 in this paper. The vertical distribution characteristics of dust aerosols with different diameters in East Asia were analyzed, and the maximum probable contributions of differently size dust aerosols generated by the plateau desertification to the atmospheric aerosols in East Asia were discussed
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