Abstract
Abstract. Airborne particles of mineral dust play a key role in Earth's climate system and affect human activities around the globe. The numerical weather modeling community has undertaken considerable efforts to accurately forecast these dust emissions. Here, for the first time in the literature, we thoroughly describe and document the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) dust emission scheme for the Georgia Institute of Technology–Goddard Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) aerosol model within the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) and compare it to the other dust emission schemes available in WRF-Chem. The AFWA dust emission scheme addresses some shortcomings experienced by the earlier GOCART-WRF scheme. Improved model physics are designed to better handle emission of fine dust particles by representing saltation bombardment. WRF-Chem model performance with the AFWA scheme is evaluated against observations of dust emission in southwest Asia and compared to emissions predicted by the other schemes built into the WRF-Chem GOCART model. Results highlight the relative strengths of the available schemes, indicate the reasons for disagreement, and demonstrate the need for improved soil source data.
Highlights
To support the objectives of this paper, we provide a full documentation of the Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART)-WRF dust emission scheme, including changes that have been made to the code since Ginoux et al (2001, 2004) that are otherwise incompletely documented in the literature
But still substantial, differences exist between the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and University of Cologne (UoC) schemes
The AFWA dust emission scheme for WRF-Chem is fully documented in the literature for the first time here
Summary
Airborne mineral dust particles play a key role in Earth’s radiative budget, weather and climate patterns, and biogeochemical processes (e.g., Shinn et al, 2000; Mahowald et al, 2005, 2010, 2014; DeMott et al, 2010; Ravi et al, 2011; Webb et al, 2012; Boucher et al, 2013; Huang et al, 2014; Knippertz and Stuut, 2014; Skiles et al, 2015; F. Wang et al, 2017). The development of accurate numerical models of dust emissions and transport is a priority for the research, operational forecasting, and hazard mitigation communities (e.g., Knippertz and Stuut, 2014; Sprigg et al, 2014; Shepherd et al, 2016). Over the past several decades, numerous dust emission and transport models have been developed for forecasting and research purposes (e.g., Tegen and Fung, 1994; Wang et al, 2000; Woodward, 2001; Ginoux et al, 2001; Nickovic et al, 2001; In and Park, 2002; Zender, 2003; Shao, 2001; Gong, 2003; Liu et al, 2003, 2007; Tanaka and Chiba, 2005; Klose and Shao, 2012, 2013). The GOCART model includes components that represent the emission, transport, and deposition of an array of atmospheric aerosols including sea spray, combustion products, and min-
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
