Abstract
Three major sequential widespread dust events were experienced in the northern parts of India in May 2018. A significant impact of these pre-monsoon dust storms on the aerosol characteristics over the Indian National capital region (NCR) has been studied using remotely sensed ceilometer and ground-based measurements at Indira Gandhi International airport, New Delhi, India. The results show that after each dust activity, the significant inclusion of dust aerosols loaded in the free troposphere. Consequently, the direct impact on the lower atmospheric parameters like increase in daily average temperature (by 4–5 K), stepped up (stepped down) diurnal cycles of longwave fluxes (shortwave fluxes), has been recorded within 15 days of dust span. Mainly, the adverse meteorological and radiation features noticed before the first dust storm (DS1), which pinpoints the sudden dust intrusion over NCR, Delhi. However, this dust storm has extensively impacted on the atmospheric vertical dust loading, surface boundary layer mechanisms, and socioeconomic way. Therefore, the detailed analysis of vertical dust distribution and its interaction with mid-tropospheric processes has been carried by using the vertical normalized attenuated backscatter coefficients accompanying the radiosonde observation. The aloft floating dust layer up to 3–4 km has been noticed even after shallow rainfall and persisted at almost the same height for the next 34 h due to low-level clouds. Meanwhile, the sub-dust layer below 1 km is formed due to local activity, which also sustains for a long time.
Highlights
Sand and dust storms (SDS) are high-impact and lower atmospheric phenomenon that occur in different parts of the world (Kohfeld et al, 2001; Ginoux et al, 2012; Shepherd et al, 2016)
The present study investigates the deadly dust storm events using the backscatter product of state of the art ceilometer and extensive surface meteorological observations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, New Delhi, India, during May 2018
The devastating dust storm in northern parts of India especially, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Rajasthan in May 2018 is listed among 35 extreme weather events caused by the climate changed, mentioned in ‘The Global Climate in 2015–2019’ report released by the WMO
Summary
Sand and dust storms (SDS) are high-impact and lower atmospheric phenomenon that occur in different parts of the world (Kohfeld et al, 2001; Ginoux et al, 2012; Shepherd et al, 2016). They develop over the arid and semi-arid regions, caused by intense surface heating and steep atmospheric pressure gradients. These correlated terms lead to form an extreme wind erosion that rolls up an ample amount of sand and dust particles from bare, dry, and unconsolidated surfaces into the atmosphere (Blanco-Canqui et al, 2010; Shepherd et al, 2016). During the dry pre-monsoon season (April-June), the dust outflow from these regions carried by westerly southwesterly winds enhances the aerosol loading over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (Sikka et al, 1997; Dey et al, 2004; Prasad et al, 2007b; Kedia et al, 2011; Verma et al, 2013; Kumar et al, 2015)
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