Major Dust Source Research Articles

Correction of dust event frequency from MODIS Quick-Look imagery using in-situ aerosol measurements over the Lake Eyre Basin, Australia

Abstract Subjective visual interpretation of MODIS Quick-Look imagery has proven useful in characterising dust source geomorphology and dust event frequency over diverse areas, but is limited by the small temporal sampling window of polar orbiting platforms, and obscuration by cloud. In this paper we seek to quantify the inevitable under-reporting of dust events in Quick-Look imagery, via a three-year case study over the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB), the largest dust source in Australia and the southern hemisphere. Dust event identification from MODIS imagery is compared with the level of dust mobilization inferred from measurements of near-surface aerosol made by a continuously-operating integrating nephelometer, located at the AeroSpan/AERONET station at Tinga Tingana in the Strzelecki Desert, adjacent to major dust sources in the LEB. The analysis indicates a major upward revision in the overall dust event frequency by ~ 72%, including a doubling of the incidence of major dust outbreaks. The intensity of missed events increases toward late afternoon and evening, although without a net day-night bias. These factors suggest the potential of new geostationary sensors and the analysis of night-time polar orbiting imagery in improving the reporting of dust mobilization over active dust-source regions. For the LEB, the corrections are crucial in understanding not only the seasonal distribution of dust mobilization, but its interannual variability and climatology.

Drivers of Australian dust: a case study of frontal winds and dust dynamics in the lower lake Eyre basin

AbstractThe roles of pre‐frontal, frontal and post‐frontal winds as the primary wind systems for dust entrainment and transport in Australia are well established. While the relevance of each system has been observed across different wind erosion events in central Australia, the entrainment of dust by all three winds during the passage of an individual front has not been demonstrated until now. Synoptic information, satellite aerosol and imagery, meteorological and dust concentration data are presented for a single case study erosion event in the lower Lake Eyre Basin. This event demonstrates variable dust transport in three different directions from one of the southern Hemisphere's most significant source regions, and the changing nature of the active dust pathways during the passage of a frontal system. While only a single dust event is considered, the findings show the complexity of mineral aerosol emission and transport patterns even within an individual dust outbreak. For the lower Lake Eyre Basin, this appreciation of pathway behaviour is significant for better understanding the role of aeolian inputs from the dominant Australian source to surrounding marine systems. In a wider context, the findings exhibit the detailed insights into major dust source dynamics that can be obtained from high resolution spatial and particularly temporal data, as used in combination. This work highlights the importance of adequately resolved data for the accurate determination of dust entrainment and transport patterns of major dust sources. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A new inventory for middle east dust source points.

We use the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on both Terra and Aqua satellites to present new high-resolution mapping of major atmospheric dust source points in the Middle East region on the basis of the improved version of the recently developed Middle East Dust Index (MEDI) applied to 70 dust storms, which occurred during the period between 2001 and 2012. Results indicate that 247 different source points have participated in dust storm generation in the Middle East region in which Iraq and Syria are the highest efficient sites for dust storm generation in this region, respectively. Using extracted indices for Deep Blue algorithm, identified dust sources were classified into three levels of intensity. The frequency of occurrence approach, the relationship between high atmospheric dust content and its number of occurrences, is also used to identify sensitive source points. High-intensity dust storms are mainly located west of Iraq and the border of Iraq and Syria. We will discuss the implications of our results in understanding the global dust cycle.

Climatology of dust storms in northern China and Mongolia: Results from MODIS observations during 2000–2010

The climatology of dust storms in northern China and Mongolia (33°N–54°N, 73°E–136°E) is characterized at a 1-km resolution based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal observations during 2000–2010. The dust was extracted with the dynamic reference brightness temperature differences (DRBTD) dust detection algorithm. The major dust source regions are deserts, including the Tarim Basin, Hexi Corridor, Gobi in Mongolia and northern China, Horqin Sandy Land and Qaidam Basin. Dust storms occur most frequently in the Tarim Basin, with a maximum frequency (above 10%) in the eastern narrow inlet of the Taklimakan Desert around Lop Nor. Significant annual and seasonal variations are found for dust events. More than 63.8% of dust events occur in spring from March to May, with the maximum proportion (up to 29.6%) occurring in April. Severe dust storms occur mainly in the deserts in northern and northwestern China, and the largest source region is the eastern narrow inlet and the southern margin of the Taklimakan Desert.

A low-level jet in eastern Iran: a possible factor in dust events in the region

One of the world's major mineral dust source regions lies along the border between Iran and Afghanistan. In this studyit is hypothesized that a low-level jet may play in role in generating the intensity of this source region. The presence of alow-level jet east of the Seistan mountains is documented here for the first time. The jet exists mainly from May toSeptember and has a core at 850 mb. Maximum speeds are at 18 UTC and 0 UTC and occur in July-August. In the meanthe core speed attains 20 ms-1 in those months. The jet attains a maximum at night, a minimum during the day. However, the vertical motions associated with it do not fluctuate greatly over the course of the day. The development of the jet during a dust outbreak in 2002 is also described. It arises a day or so before the outbreak and disappears as the outbreak ends.

A Parameterization of Convective Dust Storms for Models with Mass-Flux Convection Schemes

Abstract Cold pool outflows, generated by downdrafts from moist convection, can generate strong winds and therefore uplift of mineral dust. These so-called haboob convective dust storms occur over all major dust source areas worldwide and contribute substantially to emissions in northern Africa, the world’s largest source. Most large-scale models lack convective dust storms because they do not resolve moist convection, relying instead on convection schemes. The authors suggest a parameterization of convective dust storms to account for their contribution in such large-scale models. The parameterization is based on a simple conceptual model, in which the downdraft mass flux from the convection scheme spreads out radially in a cylindrical cold pool. The parameterization is tested with a set of Met Office Unified Model runs for June and July 2006 over West Africa. It is calibrated with a convection-permitting run and applied to a convection-parameterized run. The parameterization successfully produces the extensive area of dust-generating winds from cold pool outflows over the southern Sahara. However, this area extends farther to the east and dust-generating winds occur earlier in the day than in the convection-permitting run. These biases are caused by biases in the convection scheme. It is found that the location and timing of dust-generating winds are weakly sensitive to the parameters of the conceptual model. The results demonstrate that a simple parameterization has the potential to correct a major and long-standing limitation in global dust models.

Characterizing magnetic mineral assemblages of surface sediments from major Asian dust sources and implications for the Chinese loess magnetism

Eolian dust plays an important role in the Earth’s climate system. Environmental magnetism has been widely used to trace dust variations at different spatial and temporal scales. However, the magnetic properties of sediments from key dust sources have not been well determined. In this study, surface samples from potential dust sources in inner Eastern Asia were systematically investigated. Our results indicate that ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic minerals are both present in surface sediments and that they have broad grain size distributions. Ferrimagnetic components are dominated by partially oxidized coarse-grained (pseudo-single domain and multi-domain) lithogenic magnetite particles with minor contributions from pedogenic fine-grained (single domain and superparamagnetic) particles. Antiferromagnetic hematite can be classified into three groups in terms of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) band positions (P 560 nm, P 545 nm, and P 535 nm, where numbers indicate the DRS band wavelength for hematite). The first group (P 560 nm) is the coarse-grained hematite of lithogenic origin and is mostly confined to western China. The P 535 nm group is of pedogenic origin. The P 545 nm group is an intermediate phase that is present both in surface samples from the source regions and in loess. Therefore, the P 545 nm and P 535 nm groups are related to eolian inputs to the Chinese Loess Plateau and pedogenic processes, respectively. In addition, significant differences exist between the magnetic properties of eolian material from sources and depositional regions due to gravitational sorting. These insights provide strong constraints on interpretation of dust signals recorded by the Chinese loess and marine sediments from the North Pacific Ocean.

Quantifying some of the impacts of dust and other aerosol on the Caspian Sea region using a regional climate model

The Central Asian deserts are a major dust source region that can potentially have a substantial impact on the Caspian Sea. Despite major advances in the modeling and prediction of the Caspian Sea Level (CSL) during recent years, no study to date has investigated the climatic effects of dust on the hydrological budget of the Sea. In this study, we utilize a regional climate model coupled to an interactive emission and transport scheme to simulate the effects of dust and other aerosol in the Caspian region. First, we present a validation of the model using a variety of AOD satellite observations as well as a climatology of dust storms. Compared to the range of satellite estimates, the model’s AOD climatology is closer to the lower end of the observations, and exhibit a significant underestimation over the clay deserts found on the Ustyurt plateau and north of the Aral Sea. Nevertheless, we find encouraging results in that the model is able to reproduce the gradient of increasing AOD intensity from the middle to the southern part of the Sea. Spatially, the model reproduces reasonably well the observed climatological dust storm frequency maps which show that the most intense dust source regions to be found in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan and Kyzylkum desert in Uzbekistan east of the Aral Sea. In the second part of this study we explore some impacts of dust and other aerosol on the climatology of the region and on the energy budget of the Sea. We find that the overall direct radiative effects of dust and other aerosol reduce the amount of shortwave radiation reaching the surface, dampen boundary layer turbulence and inhibit convection over the region. We also show that by including dust and aerosol in our simulation, we are able to reduce the positive biases in sea surface temperatures by 1–2 °C. Evaporation is also considerably reduced, resulting in an average difference of approximately \(10~\hbox {mm}~\hbox {year}^{-1}\) in the Sea’s hydrological budget which is substantial. These findings prove that an accurate projection of climate-induced changes to the CSL must include the effects of dust and other aerosol.

Antarctica's Dry Valleys: A potential source of soluble iron to the Southern Ocean?

AbstractThe soluble iron content and dust emission potential of sediment samples collected from the Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) and sea ice in the McMurdo Sound were evaluated to determine whether inputs to the Southern Ocean may be sufficient to affect ocean productivity. Our results show that the dust‐generating potential from the MDVs soils are comparable to those of sediments from other major dust sources in the Southern Hemisphere. Sediments from the MDVs and sea ice are one order of magnitude richer in soluble iron than those in other dust sources in the Southern Hemisphere. Forward trajectory analyses show that the dust from the MDVs is likely to be deposited in the Southern Ocean. These results provide evidence of the possible supply of soluble iron to the Southern Ocean associated with dust transport from the MDVs, should climate change expand the exposed areas of the continent.

Geochemical and magnetic characteristics of aeolian transported materials under different near-surface wind fields: An experimental study

By combining field investigations, field sampling, wind-tunnel experiments, and laboratory measurements, the relationships between near-surface winds and the geochemical and magnetic characteristics of wind-transported materials were statistically analyzed. Our study was conducted using bulk surface samples from a major potential dust source area in Central Asia (the Ala Shan Plateau). Under near-surface wind velocities ranging from 8 to 22m/s, the coefficients of variation ranged between 1.6% and 14.9% for χlf, 1.4% and 11.0% for χARM, and 0.7% and 12.3% for SIRM of the transported materials. For the 26 elements and oxides investigated, the coefficients of variation of Ti, Cr, As, Zr, Ce, Pb, and Cu in the samples were greater than 10%. No consistent patterns were found between magnetic characteristics and elemental and iron oxide concentrations as a function of variations in near-surface wind velocities. In potential dust source areas under near-surface wind velocities, there are variations in the relationships between magnetic and geochemical characteristics in the fine fractions of transported materials with different particle sizes. Given the wide variation in magnetic and geochemical characteristics of aeolian-transported materials under different near-surface winds, their use as proxies for past climate reconstruction must be carefully appraised.

Biogeochemistry of dust sources in Southern Africa

In Southern Africa, the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and the Etosha Pan in Namibia are two of the major dust sources in the Southern Hemisphere. Dust from Southern Africa could play an important role in sustaining the productivity of the surrounding terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, very little is known about the biogeochemical properties of dust from this region. In this study, we analyze sediments from the Makgadikgadi and Etosha salt pans and the Kalahari dunes and compare the total nitrogen, total phosphorous, soluble iron and common anions between the soil fine fraction (<45 μm) and parent soil. Our results show that in the pans, the fine fractions are richer in total nitrogen and total phosphorous than the parent material whereas the parent material is richer in soluble iron than the fine fraction. In the Kalahari sands, the fine fraction is richer in total nitrogen whereas the parent material has higher total phosphorous and soluble iron than the fine fraction. This study quantifies the amount of biogeochemically important nutrients that can be emitted by Southern African sources which could be incorporated into models of dust emission and transport to assess the impact of dust in regional and marine ecosystems.

The impact of dust storms on the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea

Abstract. Located in the dust belt, the Arabian Peninsula is a major source of atmospheric dust. Frequent dust outbreaks and some 15 to 20 dust storms per year have profound effects on all aspects of human activity and natural processes in this region. To quantify the effect of severe dust events on radiation fluxes and regional climate characteristics, we simulated the storm that occurred from 18 to 20 March 2012 using a regional weather research forecast model fully coupled with the chemistry/aerosol module (WRF–Chem). This storm swept over a remarkably large area affecting the entire Middle East, northeastern Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It was caused by a southward propagating cold front, and the associated winds activated the dust production in river valleys of the lower Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq; the coastal areas in Kuwait, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates; the Rub al Khali, An Nafud, and Ad Dahna deserts; and along the Red Sea coast on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula. Our simulation results compare well with available ground-based and satellite observations. We estimate the total amount of dust generated by the storm to have reached 94 Mt. Approximately 78% of this dust was deposited within the calculation domain. The Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf received 5.3 Mt and the Red Sea 1.2 Mt of dust. Dust particles bring nutrients to marine ecosystems, which is especially important for the oligotrophic Northern Red Sea. However, their contribution to the nutrient balance in the Red Sea remains largely unknown. By scaling the effect of one storm to the number of dust storms observed annually over the Red Sea, we estimate the annual dust deposition to the Red Sea, associated with major dust storms, to be 6 Mt.

The dynamism of salt crust patterns on playas

Playas are common in arid environments and can be major sources of mineral dust that can influence global climate. These landforms typically form crusts that limit evaporation and dust emission, modify surface erosivity and erodibility, and can lead to over prediction or underprediction of (1) dust-emission potential and (2) water and heat fluxes in energybalance modeling. Through terrestrial laser scanning measurements of part of the Makgadikgadi Pans of Botswana (a Southern Hemisphere playa that emits significant amounts of dust), we show that over weeks, months, and a year, the shapes of these surfaces change considerably (ridge thrusting of >30 mm/week) and can switch among continuous, ridged, and degraded patterns. Ridged pattern development changes the measured aerodynamic roughness of the surface (as much as 3 mm/week). The dynamic nature of these crusted surfaces must be accounted for in dust entrainment and moisture balance formulae to improve regional and global climate models.

Climate effects of dust aerosols over East Asian arid and semiarid regions

AbstractEast Asia is a major dust source in the world. Mineral dusts in the atmosphere and their interactions with clouds and precipitation have great impacts on regional climate in Asia, where there are large arid and semiarid regions. In this review paper, we summarize the typical transport paths of East Asian dust, which affect regional and global climates, and discuss numerous effects of dust aerosols on clouds and precipitation primarily over East Asian arid and semiarid regions. We hope to provide a benchmark of our present understanding of these issues. Compared with the aerosols of Saharan dust, those of East Asian dust are more absorptive of solar radiation, and its direct radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere is nearly positive or nil. It means that aerosols of East Asian dust can influence the cloud properties not only by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei (via first indirect effect, second indirect effect, and invigoration effect) but also through changing the relative humidity and stability of the atmosphere (via semidirect effect). Converting visible light to thermal energy, dust aerosols can burn clouds to produce a warming effect on climate, which is opposite to the first and second indirect effects of aerosols. The net dust aerosol radiative effects are still highly unclear. In addition, dust can inhibit or enhance precipitation under certain conditions, thus impacting the hydrological cycle. Over Asian arid and semiarid regions, the positive feedback loop in the aerosol‐cloud‐precipitation interaction may aggravate drought in its inner land.

Estimating the sensitivity of regional dust sources to sea surface temperature patterns

AbstractExploring the impact of sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly patterns on local climate in major dust source regions helps clarify our understanding of variability in the global dust cycle. In contrast to previous work, this research focuses explicitly on the influence of SST anomalies on dust emissions and attempts to explain the mechanisms by which SST anomalies affect seasonal dust emissions. This study investigates the seasonal sensitivity of mineral aerosol emissions to SST anomaly patterns from the Bodele Depression, West Africa, Sahel, Kalahari Desert, Arabian Desert, and Lake Eyre basin. The global teleconnection operator, which relates regional climate responses to SST anomaly patterns, is estimated for relevant variables in an ensemble of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model version 5 forced by randomly perturbed climatological SST fields. Variability in dust emissions from major dust sources is linked to tropical SST anomalies, particularly in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Teleconnections excited by remote SST anomalies typically impact dust emissions via changes in near‐surface wind speeds and friction velocity. However, SST‐driven impacts on the threshold friction velocity can be of the same order of magnitude as changes in the friction velocity, suggesting the impact of SST anomalies on precipitation and soil moisture is also significant. Identifying SST anomaly patterns as a component of internal variability in regional dust emissions helps characterize human influences on the dust cycle as well as improve predictions of climate, nutrient cycles, and human environments.

Provenance of the various grain-size fractions in the Negev loess and potential changes in major dust sources to the Eastern Mediterranean

The isotopic composition of Sr and Nd and elemental concentrations (e.g., Na, K, Ca, Mg, Al) of three primary Negev loess sequences trace the relative contributions of desert dust sources over the past ~180,000 yr to the southeastern Mediterranean. We focused on the geochemical signature of the fine (<20μm) and coarse (>20μm) grain-size modes of the loess to identify their respective provenances.The isotopic composition of the coarse fraction falls on a mixing line of sources feeding the Nile and its delta. The chemical compositions of the coarse fraction and the Sinai–Negev sand dunes are similar, indicating that this fraction is the product of aeolian abrasion of the adjacent Sinai–Negev sands. In turn, these sands are derived from the Nile delta and transported inland. The fine fraction has less negative εNd values and slightly deviates from the mixing line, indicating an additional end-member. The higher εNd values and Mg/Al ratios of the fine fraction are relatively well correlated (R2=0.64) and point to Arabian dust as an additional source. Temporal changes in the geochemical composition of loess over time reflect changes in climates of source areas and the Eastern Mediterranean. Shifts from Saharan to Arabian fine dust-dominated intervals indicate wetter conditions in the southern Sahara that weaken dust fluxes from this source relative to the Arabian fluxes.

Validation of SWEEP for Contrasting Agricultural Land Use Types in the Tarim Basin

The Tarim Basin is a major source of windblown dust in China. Land management and use can greatly impact windblown dust, thus, models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) are important for identifying management practices that reduce the emission of dust. The objective of this study was to test the performance of the WEPS erosion submodel (the Single-event Wind Erosion Evaluation Program (SWEEP)) under contrasting agricultural land use types in the Tarim Basin of northwest China. Wind erosion of a sandy soil was measured and simulated in a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) field and red date (Ziziphus jujuba L.) orchard during the spring of 2012 and 2013. The SWEEP did not simulate differences in soil loss for contrasting agricultural land use types, although measured soil loss was typically smaller than that considered to be of consequence (>100 g m) in the original design of the SWEEP. In fact, the model simulated no erosion for all six high wind events in which we observed erosion in the cotton field and red date orchard. The insensitivity of SWEEP to simulate erosion was caused by the simulated friction velocity being consistently lower than the threshold friction velocity for the loess soil at the cotton field and red date orchard. Because SWEEP is being used to assess wind erodibility of lands and simulate regional air quality in China, SWEEP must be improved for application to lands that emit large and small amounts of windblown dust.

Sensitivity simulations with direct shortwave radiative forcing by aeolian dust during glacial cycles

Abstract. Possible feedback effects between aeolian dust, climate and ice sheets are studied for the first time with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity over the late Pleistocene period. Correlations between climate and dust deposition records suggest that aeolian dust potentially plays an important role for the evolution of glacial cycles. Here climatic effects from the dust direct radiative forcing (DRF) caused by absorption and scattering of solar radiation are investigated. Key elements controlling the dust DRF are the atmospheric dust distribution and the absorption-scattering efficiency of dust aerosols. Effective physical parameters in the description of these elements are varied within uncertainty ranges known from available data and detailed model studies. Although the parameters can be reasonably constrained, the simulated dust DRF spans a~wide uncertainty range related to the strong nonlinearity of the Earth system. In our simulations, the dust DRF is highly localized. Medium-range parameters result in negative DRF of several watts per square metre in regions close to major dust sources and negligible values elsewhere. In the case of high absorption efficiency, the local dust DRF can reach positive values and the global mean DRF can be insignificantly small. In the case of low absorption efficiency, the dust DRF can produce a significant global cooling in glacial periods, which leads to a doubling of the maximum glacial ice volume relative to the case with small dust DRF. DRF-induced temperature and precipitation changes can either be attenuated or amplified through a feedback loop involving the dust cycle. The sensitivity experiments suggest that depending on dust optical parameters, dust DRF has the potential to either damp or reinforce glacial–interglacial climate changes.

An observational study of saltation and dust emission in a hotspot of Mongolia

Abstract We conducted field observations from April 2012 to June 2013 on the desert steppe of Mongolia to investigate saltation and dust events and to examine the effect of surface conditions on dust emissions. The desert steppe of Mongolia is a major source of dust and has the highest frequency of dust events in East Asia. Our results indicate that saltation and dust events were caused mainly by westerly winds, particularly from April to June. Saltation and dust concentrations were substantially lower in 2013 than in 2012 because soil temperatures were lower and snow events more frequent in 2013. Increased dust concentrations in summer were likely caused by transported dust, rather than local dust. Saltation and dust emissions rarely occurred when soil moisture was greater than 6%. However, the threshold wind speed did not correlate well with soil moisture, but decreased with increasing soil temperature. Dramatic decreases of threshold wind speed occurred in both 2012 and 2013 after large dust events, even though there was little change in soil moisture and vegetation cover. These variations of threshold wind speed during dust-emitting periods likely reflect changes of soil structure, possibly related to the freeze–thaw cycle.

Oxygen isotope signatures of quartz from major Asian dust sources: Implications for changes in the provenance of Chinese loess

We present a systematic investigation of the oxygen isotopic composition of quartz in both fine and coarse fractions (<16 and 16–63μm) from major dust source regions in East Asia, including the Mongolian Gobi, the northern Chinese deserts, the Taklimakan desert, and the Qaidam Basin. The results demonstrate that the quartz oxygen isotope ratios of the Taklimakan desert and the Mongolian Gobi are more heterogeneous compared with the other areas. The quartz δ18O values of both the fine and coarse fractions from the various sources are overlapped to varying degrees, thus making it difficult to differentiate them. Nevertheless, the quartz δ18O values of both fractions exhibit an increasing trend from the Mongolian Gobi, to the northern Chinese deserts, and then to the Taklimakan desert. This implies that the geological settings of the source areas are different, which in turn results in differing contributions of high-temperature igneous rocks. The combination of quartz δ18O results with other quartz-based provenance tracers can clearly differentiate the three major source areas, i.e., the Taklimakan desert, the Mongolian Gobi, and the northern Chinese deserts. In addition, comparison of our results with previous δ18O measurements of fine-grained quartz from the Luochuan loess sequence suggests the likely glacial–interglacial fluctuations in dust provenance. Finally, we suggest that the combination of quartz δ18O signatures and other dust provenance tracers can potentially improve the recognition of long-term fluctuations in the provenance of Chinese loess-red clay deposits.