Distribution Of Dust Aerosols Research Articles

Mathematical Modelling of Dust Transfer from the Tailings in the Alagir Gorge of the RNO-Alania

Introduction. Mathematical modelling of the aerodynamics of mountain gorges is an actual means of studying possible man-made emissions in various meteorological conditions that increase the transfer of pollutants in the direction of densely populated areas. Aerodynamics and climatic conditions are unique for various mountain gorges. This requires a separate study for each specific case. The paper studies the distribution of dust aerosol from the Unal tailings dump, located near the village of Verkhny Unal (Alagir Gorge, RNO-Alania, RF), with south and south-easterly winds. With these wind directions, the dust of the tailings dump is carried by air currents in the north direction, towards Alagir. The aim of the study is to obtain a forecast for the surface concentration of dust with an increased content of lead, zinc and other elements near densely populated areas of the flat part of RNO-Alania.Materials and Methods. The model takes into account the terrain, surface wind roses and dust deposition processes. The calculations were carried out for the case of neutral stratification and without taking into account the influence of seasonal factors using a mathematical model previously published by the authors.Results. The model prediction of the dust concentration distribution obtained from calculations is shown. The frequencies and amplitudes of oscillations of unsteady jet streams in the cross section of the Alagir gorge are analyzed. Based on the data of satellite sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere, the frequency of winds leading to the transfer of dust in the direction of densely populated areas is estimated.Discussion and Conclusion. The Unal tailings dump is a source of pollutants and over many years of its existence, soil contamination can be significant. Field studies of the soil in the Alagir area and, possibly, measures for its reclamation are necessary.

Terrain effects of the Tibetan Plateau on dust aerosol distribution over the Tarim Basin, China

Dust events are frequent in the Tarim Basin because of its underlying desert surface; moreover, meteorological conditions under the influence of the surrounding high terrains, especially the Tibetan Plateau, may also trigger dust events. However, the terrain effect of the Tibetan Plateau on the dust aerosol distribution over the Tarim Basin remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Tibetan Plateau terrain on the dust aerosol variations in three dust events over the Tarim Basin using the Weather Research and Forecasting Chemistry model. With decreasing altitude of the Tibetan Plateau, dust concentration (DC) decreased in the upper layers and increased in the low layers. The DC within the entire atmospheric layers increased by 8.52%, 24.03%, and 43.05% on average during three dust events at Tibetan Plateau altitudes of 3000 m, 2000 m, and 1000 m, respectively, thereby indicating that the DC in the lower layers increasingly dominated the entire atmospheric layers as the Tibetan Plateau altitude decreased. Low-elevation terrain enhanced the planetary boundary layer height, near-surface wind speed, and surface air temperature, but weakened atmospheric stratification stability, all of which are beneficial for strengthening dust emissions and vertical mixing in the lower layers of the Tarim Basin. Furthermore, a decrease in the Tibetan Plateau altitude led to forming a vertical circulation, with the south to rise and the north to sink over the Tarim Basin. Meteorological field and vertical circulation could adequately explain the changes in the distribution of dust aerosols over the Tarim Basin. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the effect of the Tibetan Plateau terrain on changes in the dust aerosol in the Tarim Basin and surrounding central Asian regions.

Stability of the Vertical Distribution of Dust Aerosol under Weak and Moderate Winds

Stability of the Vertical Distribution of Dust Aerosol under Weak and Moderate Winds

Stability of the Vertical Distribution of Dust Aerosol in Light and Moderate Winds

The profiles of dust aerosol mass concentration obtained with multilevel (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 m) daytime measurements in arid conditions in 2020–2022 show a power dependence on height. We distinguish three main types of changes in concentration with height: a) in low wind (degrees are close to –0.5); b) spike changes in concentration when wind increases (degrees reach and exceed –1); c) inversions (concentration increases with height at two or three lower levels of measurements): weak – about –20 mkg/cm3, significant – more than 50 mkg/cm3. The power dependence of –0.5 is explained by the collective effect of the rise of the ensemble of closely located bubbles of air warmed around the dust particles. In weak and moderate winds, this mode is more common. Burst changes in concentration are associated with the emergence of turbulent structures.

Vertical Distribution of Dust Aerosol Under Conditions of Weak and Moderate Winds

The height distribution of dust aerosol in the surface layer based on the measurements made in the summer of 2020–2021 under arid conditions on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia is considered. For the profiles of the aerosol concentration under conditions of weak winds, a characteristic gradual slope with an index close to the value of –0.5 is recorded. When the wind strengthens, the profile slope takes on values closer to the degrees known for the conditions of saltation –0.7…–1.0 (and steeper). The observed patterns can be explained by the character of motion of dust particles rising from the hot surface together with the surrounding heated air volume that differs for the fine (<1 μm) and coarse (>1 μm) particle fractions.

Three-dimensional distribution of dust aerosols over the Tarim Basin and the Tibet Plateau during 2007–2021 derived from CALIPSO lidar observations

Three-dimensional distribution of dust aerosols over the Tarim Basin and the Tibet Plateau during 2007–2021 derived from CALIPSO lidar observations

Long-term three-dimensional distribution and transport of Saharan dust: Observation from CALIPSO, MODIS, and reanalysis data

Desert dust and sand storms from the Sahara can sometimes be transported thousands of kilometers, causing social and economic damages throughout their path, deteriorating the air quality, and affecting human health. The seasonal climatology and transport pathways of dust aerosols are, therefore, essential to a deeper understanding of the impact of dust on the affected region. This study investigated the three-dimensional climatology of dust aerosol distribution and its transportation characteristics over the Sahara, Mediterranean, and Europe using multiple satellites and reanalysis data. The results showed a strong spatial variation of dust aerosols, with the highest loading over the Sahara Desert and a gradual latitudinal decrease toward the north with the lowest dust load over Europe. Temporally, higher dust activities were observed during summer and spring in terms of dust occurrence frequency and contribution to the total aerosol loading. Dust aerosols significantly increased over Central Sahara and decreased over Central Europe. Saharan dust was efficiently transported toward Europe during summer and spring, mainly at higher altitudes of 2–6 km. It could reach as north as the latitude of ∼42° N in the transect of 5° – 15° E in the layer 2–4 km during summer, while in winter, the occurrence of dust was at lower altitudes (< 2 km) in some areas in Europe, north of 45° N. The dust transport pathway toward Europe showed a long-standing dust layer mainly appearing over the Mediterranean from the near-surface up to 3 to 4 km during summer and spring, contributing to the meridional transport of dust. The dust layer characteristics and the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height above Europe showed the likelihood of dust intrusion into Europe's PBL during summer. This work also highlighted the main elements affecting dust distribution and transport toward Europe: wind, topography, and the PBL height.

ON THE VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF DUST AEROSOL IN WEAK AND MODERATE WINDS

The height distribution of dust aerosol in the surface layer based on measurements made in the summer of 2020–2021 in arid conditions on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia is considered. For profiles of aerosol concentration under conditions of weak winds, a characteristic gradual slope with an index close to the value of –0.5. When the wind strengthens, the profile slope takes values closer to the degrees known for the conditions of saltation. –0.7…–1.0 (and steeper). The observed regularities can be explained by the character of motion of dust particles rising from the hot surface together with the surrounding warmed air volume, which is different for fine (1 μm) and coarse (1 μm) particle fractions.

Identification of dust aerosols, their sources, and the effect of soil moisture in Central Asia

Dust aerosols in Central Asia are an important factor in global climate change and attribution studies. Identifying the source of dust in Central Asia is crucial for understanding the ecological environment and climate, locally and globally. In this study, daily dust aerosol data were calculated and extracted for Central Asia from 2003 to 2018. The multi-year trends of dust aerosols were analyzed, dust sources were identified, the characteristics of dust aerosols in dust sources were analyzed, and the influence of soil moisture on sand initiation was explored. The results show that there are distinct seasonal characteristics in the spatial distribution of dust aerosols in Central Asia. The proportion of the area in the zone of high dust aerosols was the greatest in spring. Nearly half of the dust aerosol areas exhibited an increasing trend. A high incidence of dust sources was mainly distributed in the southern Xinjiang region. The trend of change in the dust area first increased and then decreased. With the increase in soil moisture under different wind speed conditions, the aerosols from dust sources all showed an exponentially decreasing trend, and the increase in soil moisture led to an increase in the wind speed threshold of sand initiation. This study provides basic data support for the study of dust aerosols, identifies dust sources, and provides a basis for studying the radiative forcing and climate effects of dust aerosols in Central Asia.

Modelling the 2021 East Asia super dust storm using FLEXPART and FLEXDUST and its comparison with reanalyses and observations

The 2021 East Asia sandstorm began from the Eastern Gobi desert steppe in Mongolia on March 14, and later spread to northern China and the Korean Peninsula. It was the biggest sandstorm to hit China in a decade, causing severe air pollution and a significant threat to human health. Capturing and predicting such extreme events is critical for society. The Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART and the associated dust emission model FLEXDUST have been recently developed and applied to simulate global dust cycles. However, how well the model captures Asian dust storm events remains to be explored. In this study, we applied FLEXPART to simulate the recent 2021 East Asia sandstorm, and evaluated its performance comparing with observation and observation-constrained reanalysis datasets, such as the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) and CAMS global atmospheric composition forecasts (CAMS-F). We found that the default setting of FLEXDUST substantially underestimates the strength of dust emission and FLEXPART modelled dust concentration in this storm compared to that in MERRA-2 and CAMS-F. An improvement of the parametrization of bare soil fraction, topographical scaling, threshold friction velocity and vertical dust flux scheme based on Kok et al. (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2014, 14, 13023–13041) in FLEXDUST can reproduce the strength and spatio-temporal pattern of the dust storm comparable to MERRA-2 and CAMS-F. However, it still underestimates the observed spike of dust concentration during the dust storm event over northern China, and requires further improvement in the future. The improved FLEXDUST and FLEXPART perform better than MERRA-2 and CAMS-F in capturing the observed particle size distribution of dust aerosols, highlighting the importance of using more dust size bins and size-dependent parameterization for dust emission, and dry and wet deposition schemes for modelling the Asian dust cycle and its climatic feedbacks.

Global distribution of Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African dust simulated by CESM1/CARMA

Abstract. Dust aerosols affect the radiative and energy balance at local and global scales by scattering and absorbing sunlight and infrared light. A previous study suggests that dust size distribution is one of the major sources of uncertainty in modeling the dust global distribution. Climate models overestimate the fine dust (≤5 µm) by an order of magnitude, while underestimates of the coarse dust (≥5 µm) range between 0.5 to 1.5 orders of magnitude compared with the global observations. Here we improved the simulated size distribution of dust aerosol using a sectional aerosol model (Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres) coupled with the Community Earth System Model (CESM1/CARMA). Simulated dust mass size distributions peak at around 2–3 µm in diameter and increase by 4 orders of magnitude from 0.1 to 2 µm. Our model demonstrates that North African, Middle Eastern, and Asian dust accounts for ∼ 59.7 %, 12.5 %, and 13.3 % of the global annual mean dust emissions, with the remaining 14.5 % originating from scattered smaller dust sources. The model dust vertical distributions are validated against the NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) field campaign datasets. Both simulations and ATom in situ measurements during the ATom field campaign suggest that dust mass concentrations over the remote ocean drop by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude from the surface to the upper troposphere (200 hPa). Our model suggests that Asian dust contributes to more than 40 % of annual mean dust mass abundances in the global upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). The model suggests that Asian dust dominates the dust mass budget in the UTLS of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) region, with a relative contribution 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than the dust originating from the North African and Middle Eastern deserts.

Meteorological Influence of Mineral Dust Distribution Over South-Western Africa Deserts Using Reanalysis and Satellite Data

This study investigated the meteorological influence of mineral dust in the south-western African region using satellite and reanalysis datasets by studying 1) the seasonal transport and distribution of mineral dust in the region; 2) the relationship between precipitation, wind and desert dust, and 3) the long-term trends of dust column density, precipitation rate and surface wind speed. The results show that the Namib desert is the main source of dust in the region, with the density and distribution varying by seasons. The study found that the greatest dust distribution occurs in the June-July-August (JJA) season, attributed to the southwesterly winds which transport the dust into the interior of the region. Moreover, small dust aerosols less that 20 µm are observed at highest altitudes between 7 and 10.28 km. Favourable meteorological such as strong and fast winds and low precipitation, and low vegetation played a vital role in the production and distribution of dust aerosols. Over a long time (i.e., from 1990 to 2020), dust column density trend increased, while precipitation and surface wind speed trends decreased. This study provides significant basis for assessing and monitoring of the desertification processes and their effect on regional climate variability and change in Southwest Africa, where data is ground-based data is scarce and related efforts are rare.

Assessment of the impact of dust aerosols on crop and water loss in the Great Salt Desert in Iran

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of dust aerosols and their effects on crops is important for policy formulation and food security. This study aims to investigate the impact of dust source susceptibility areas (DSSA) on the loss of agricultural crop and corresponding water consumption in terms of Water Footprint in the Great Salt Desert, Iran. To this goal, MODIS satellite images during the 2005–2020 period were used to identify dust sources and 135 dust source zones were identified. Machine learning algorithm viz. Random Forest (RF), generalized linear model (GLM), and Artificial neural network (ANN) were tested to reproduce DSSA. The best method was RF and applied to calculate and classify DSSA in five risk levels from very low to very high. The amount of wheat production under high risk of DSSA was estimated using the average crop yield from recent years using agriculture statistics. We calculated the loss of crops and corresponding water consumption for three scenarios, assuming a typical loss of 20, 40, and 60% of the wheat production for better crop loss estimation. Finally, the spatial relationships between wheat farmland and high-risk DSSA were assessed using ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) at sub-watershed scale. The area of wheat cultivation in high and very high risk of DSSA is 10188.04 km2, which is 36% of all agricultural land for wheat in the region. Loss of wheat crop to DSSA meant that 1270.58 to 3811 million m3 water used for the production of wheat were lost, corresponding to 2%, to 7% of lost water compared to the total water consumption for wheat production in the study area.

Dust distribution from common minerals in the air of the Baikal Natural Territory

In mountain quarries, the main factor influencing safety is dust aerosol of host rocks in the air. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the environmental safety of mining quarries and improve health of the population. Due to a large number of factors influencing the distribution of dust, one of the main ways to obtain reliable information about this process is to study the distribution of dust. On the example of five mining facilities, an environmental risk assessment was conducted using statistical data on the control over activities of the enterprise. The index of atmospheric pollution was determined and the main parameters of the distribution of dust aerosols of granite, migmatite, marbled limestone, ophiocalcite, serpentinite, jade and charoite were identified. The area of distribution of dust aerosol for five quarries located on the Baikal natural territory was established. The consequences of dust pollution for ecosystems were described.

Characteristics of dust aerosols and identification of dust sources in Xinjiang, China

Changes in atmospheric particulate matter content directly affect the Earth-atmosphere system balance and climate change and indirectly affect the environment and ecology. Therefore, this matter is receiving increasing attention. A typical arid area with a fragile ecological environment and frequent dust activities, Xinjiang, China, was investigated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daily aerosol optical thickness and Ångström wavelength exponent data to obtain the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of long-term dust aerosols over 20 years. The frequency of occurrence was calculated to accurately identify anthropogenic and natural sources, and data, such as wind speed, were superimposed to quantitatively estimate dust aerosol emissions. The factors that influenced dust aerosol emissions are discussed. The results show that the distribution of dust aerosols in South and North Xinjiang is obviously different, and the average dust aerosol optical depth (DOD) in spring is higher than that in other seasons. The sources of natural dust have little variation and are primarily located in Lop Nur, on the edges of the Taklamakan and Gurbantunggut deserts, in the central Tuha Basin, and in dried-up lakes. The sources of anthropogenic dust are mainly distributed in the farmland areas of the oasis plain and the impact fan plain. Natural dust aerosols are dominant in Xinjiang, with high natural dust emissions in spring. Changes in anthropogenic dust aerosols are caused by production activities, and the annual average anthropogenic dust emissions account for 8% of the total dust emissions. Precipitation can promote a reduction in natural dust emissions. Topography has an obvious effect on the formation and transportation of dust aerosols, which manifests as the frequent occurrence of dust in the basin. The population density data and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime light data reveal, that the intensity of human activities has a great impact on anthropogenic dust aerosols. This study provides support for research on how aerosols affect climate and environmental changes in Xinjiang.

Meteorological feedback and eco-environmental impact of Asian dust: A simulation study

Wind-blown dust plays a crucial role in air quality, biogeochemical cycles, and climate change. In East Asia, one of the main dust source regions in the world, dust storms frequently engulf eastern China, with a substantial negative effect on air pollution and the ecological environment. By integrating multiple observations and the online coupled meteorology-chemistry model WRF-Chem, a severe dust storm event originating from the Gobi Desert in early May 2017 is comprehensively analyzed from the perspective of emission estimation, meteorological feedback, and the possible impact on the ecological environment. We optimize the size distribution of dust aerosol by applying local observations to better represent dust emission and regional transport in the model. Both the observations and simulations indicate that the dust storm broke out with PM10 concentrations exceeding 1500 μg/m3 in the source region of the Gobi Desert, and was quickly transported downwind, deteriorating the air quality of cities in northern and eastern China. Moreover, we find that the dust storm significantly perturbed the temperature stratification, since mineral dust is a radiatively active aerosol and can absorb both short- and long-wave radiation. The upper dust layer at an altitude of around 2–3 km became warmer by 1–2 °C while the surface temperature decreased by about 2 °C, making the planetary boundary layer more stable and indirectly aggravating local air pollution near the ground in eastern China. Furthermore, during this event, a large amount of dust deposition increased ocean primary productivity, with the maximum Chlorophyll-a concentration rising from 4 to 14 mg/m3 in the central area of the Yellow Sea. This study highlights the critical impact of Asian dust pollution on air quality and marine ecosystems in downwind areas.

Aerosol vertical distribution and interactions with land/sea breezes over the eastern coast of the Red Sea from lidar data and high-resolution WRF-Chem simulations

Abstract. With advances in modeling approaches and the application of satellite and ground-based data in dust-related research, our understanding of the dust cycle has significantly improved in recent decades. However, two aspects of the dust cycle, namely the vertical profiles and diurnal cycles, are not yet adequately understood, mainly due to the sparsity of direct observations. Measurements of backscattering caused by atmospheric aerosols have been ongoing since 2014 at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) campus using a micro-pulse lidar (MPL) with a high temporal resolution. KAUST is located on the eastern coast of the Red Sea and currently hosts the only operating lidar system in the Arabian Peninsula. We use the data from the MPL together with other collocated observations and high-resolution simulations (with 1.33 km grid spacing) from the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to study the following three aspects of dust over the Red Sea coastal plains. Firstly, we compare the model-simulated surface winds, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and aerosol size distributions with observations and evaluate the model performance in representing a typical large-scale dust event over the study site. Secondly, we investigate the vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and concentration in terms of their seasonal and diurnal variability. Thirdly, we explore the interactions between dust aerosols and land/sea breezes, which are the most influential components of the local diurnal circulation in the region. The WRF-Chem model successfully reproduced the diurnal profile of surface wind speed, AOD, and dust size distributions over the study area compared to observations. The model also captured the onset, demise, and height of a large-scale dust event that occurred in 2015, as compared to the lidar data. The vertical profiles of aerosol extinction in different seasons were largely consistent between the MPL data and WRF-Chem simulations along with key observations and reanalyses used in this study. We found a substantial variation in the vertical profile of aerosols in different seasons and between daytime and nighttime, as revealed by the MPL data. The MPL data also identified a prominent dust layer at ∼5–7 km during the nighttime, which likely represents the long-range transported dust brought to the site by the easterly flow from remote inland deserts. The sea breeze circulation was much deeper (∼2 km) than the land breeze circulation (∼1 km), but both breeze systems prominently affected the distribution of dust aerosols over the study site. We observed that sea breezes push the dust aerosols upwards along the western slope of the Sarawat Mountains. These sea breezes eventually collide with the dust-laden northeasterly trade winds coming from nearby inland deserts, thus causing elevated dust maxima at a height of ∼1.5 km above sea level over the mountains. Moreover, the sea and land breezes intensify dust emissions from the coastal region during the daytime and nighttime, respectively. Our study, although focused on a particular region, has broader environmental implications as it highlights how aerosols and dust emissions from the coastal plains can affect the Red Sea climate and marine habitats.

North African mineral dust sources: new insights from a combined analysis based on 3D dust aerosol distributions, surface winds and ancillary soil parameters

Abstract. Mineral dust aerosol is a key player in the climate system. Determining dust sources and the spatio-temporal variability of dust emission fluxes is essential for estimating the impact of dust on the atmospheric radiation budget, cloud and precipitation formation processes, the bio-productivity and, ultimately, the carbon cycle. Although much effort has been put into determining dust sources from satellite observations, geo-locating active dust sources is still challenging and uncertainties in space and time are evident. One major source of uncertainty is the lack of clear differentiation between near-source dust aerosol and transported dust aerosol. In order to reduce this uncertainty, we use 3D information on the distribution of dust aerosol suspended in the atmosphere calculated from spectral measurements obtained by the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) by using the Mineral Aerosols Profiling from Infrared Radiance (MAPIR) algorithm. In addition to standard dust products from satellite observations, which provide 2D information on the horizontal distribution of dust, MAPIR allows for the retrieval of additional information on the vertical distribution of dust plumes. This ultimately enables us to separate between near-source and transported dust plumes. Combined with information on near-surface wind speed and surface properties, low-altitude dust plumes can be assigned to dust emission events and low-altitude transport regimes can be excluded. Consequently, this technique will reduce the uncertainty in automatically geo-locating active dust sources. The findings of our study illustrate the spatio-temporal distribution of North African dust sources based on 9 years of data, allowing for the observation of a full seasonal cycle of dust emissions, differentiating morning and afternoon/evening emissions and providing a first glance at long-term changes. In addition, we compare the results of this new method to the results from Schepanski et al. (2012), who manually identified dust sources from Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) red–green–blue (RGB) images. The comparison illustrates that each method has its strengths and weaknesses that must be taken into account when using the results. This study is of particular importance for understanding future environmental changes due to a changing climate.

Monitoring Dust Events Using Doppler Lidar and Ceilometer in Iceland

Ground-based lidars and ceilometers are widely used for dust and volcanic ash observation around the world. This is particularly interesting in Iceland where high-altitude dust events occur frequently during strong wind conditions and volcanic eruptions. To explore the possible application of such technologies in Iceland for monitoring dust events, we used a combination of Doppler wind lidars with depolarization channels, ceilometers, and other instruments, to monitor two dust events that occurred in Iceland during summer 2019. We applied a verified ceilometer data processing procedure with customized local corrections and developed a new procedure to process Doppler lidar data for aerosols measurements. Both lidar and ceilometer observations can be used to detect the dust layer and reveal the temporal and vertical distribution of dust aerosols in Iceland. The depolarization ratio measurements indicate that the weather conditions, e.g., relative humidity, could have a significant impact on lidar measurements. We conclude that using Doppler wind lidar and ceilometer measurements to monitor volcanic and sedimentary aerosols is possible and may be used to provide important information to the scientific community.

Climatology of Dust‐Forced Radiative Heating Over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Surroundings

AbstractDust aerosol can affect the atmospheric thermal structure and exert great melting potential on snow and ice sheets. In this study, the decadal climatology of dust‐forced radiative heating (DRH) in the atmosphere over Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings (TPS) was investigated using the Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model along with the CALIPSO satellite observations from 2007 to 2016. After screening out other aerosols, the vertical distribution of dust aerosol was examined to accurately assess the DRH. The net DRH showed a significant warm effect mainly by dust loading, which covers from the center of dust sources to their adjacent transport regions. The maximum value of the DRH appeared at the near‐surface, while the DRH decreased with an increase in height. The climatic average DRH at the near‐surface reached 16.8 K/month at the Taklimakan Desert (TD) and 10.8 K/month at the Gangetic Plain in spring, 13.7 K/month at the Indus Plain in summer, which is 3–3.6 times warmer than the column‐averaged DRHs. This study also found the most significant influence of dust events on the Qaidam Basin in the TPS, in which the near‐surface DRH was 4.7 K/month during spring. It is also noteworthy that the intermonth and interannual variations of the DRH highlighted the significant warming effect of dust aerosols on the atmospheric thermal structure, especially at the near‐surface. In addition, we need to pay more attention to changes in snow‐related processes influenced by absorbing aerosols and the light‐absorbing impurities deposited in snow over the TPS.