Transport mechanisms of Asian dust aerosol to the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Dust aerosols originating from major deserts of the surrounding Tibetan Plateau (TP), i.e., the Taklamakan Desert on the northern side, the Thar Desert on the southern side, and the Karakum Desert on the western side, can frequently assault the TP and greatly influence the regional climate over the TP. Airborne dust over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) influences the local climate by warming the atmosphere and altering cloud properties. Additionally, dust settling on ice and snow can accelerate their melting, impacting the hydrological cycle. A new Source-Tracing of Airborne Dust algorithm based on HYSPLIT was developed to evaluate the dominant remote sources and their contributions, based on the space-based lidar measurement and reanalysis dataset. Th Taklamakan, Karakum, and Thar deserts were found to be the most significant contributors. Furthermore, the transport mechanisms of Asian dust aerosols from the dominant remote sources were explored by combining the synoptic analysis and circulation classifications. These new findings pave the way for further revealing the contribution of dust aerosol from remote source to the melting of ice and snow on the TP and local climate change.