Severe Dust Research Articles

Forming Highly Polluted PMs Caused by the Invasion of Transboundary Air Pollutants: Model Simulation and Discussion

ABSTRACT Transboundary air pollutants that deteriorate ambient air quality have become an emerging international concern recently. This study analyzed and simulated an air pollution case of highly concentrated particulate matter (PM) formed by a severe dust storm case from January 17 till 19 in 2014. For this case, concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 reached up to 680 and 165 µg m–3, respectively. Those concentrations were 5–10 folds higher than the proposed ambient air quality standards of Taiwan. The mechanisms for forming high-concentrated PM in the ambient air of Taiwan and its surrounding area were investigated. Based on the monitored pollutant concentrations and the simulation results with the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model, both the meteorological conditions and the mechanisms for forming high-concentrated PMs were analyzed. The long-range transported-in air pollutants, travelling with the movement of a strong continental cold high-pressure system originating in northern China, contributed to the poor ambient air quality. Two important mechanisms for forming this highly concentrated PM were proposed, including the transported-in transboundary air pollutants (or their precursors) from China and the leeward side effects on the western side of the Taiwan Island. Low inversion layers in the atmosphere and terrain downwash near the ground surface were observed in this case study while continental cold air approached. The WRF-Chem model simulation results confirmed that the ambient air of western Taiwan was dry and moved downward during the investigated period. Hence, the contribution of transboundary air pollutants to deteriorating ambient air quality cannot be ignored.

Performance Evaluation of WRF-CHEM in Simulating Harmattan Dust over West Africa

In this study, we investigated the ability of Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the Chemistry option (WRF-Chem) using the GOCART dust scheme in capturing the spatial and temporal distribution of a severe dust storm which occurred in March 2006 over West Africa. The period (5th - 14th March, 2006) also coincided with the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Special Observing Period (SOP) and some observed datasets from other platforms were also used. The WRF-Chem simulation was performed on a two-way nested domain in order to resolve the dust episode on high horizontal resolution dataset. From the 5th March, a dust storm raised in northern Algeria, which propagated southward spreading to the west and east on the subsequent days. Over the Gulf of Guinea, an intense dust haze was transported southward thereby generating an aerosol optical thickness (AOT) greater than 4 over Nigeria. Qualitative and quantitative characterizations between observations and WRF-Chem simulations demonstrated that the WRF-Chem model is highly efficient and can be recommended to simulate the spatial and temporal distribution of harmattan dust over West Africa. We discovered that the WRFChem modelled Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) underestimated the AOD from AERONET as a result of all other aerosols like black carbon integrated into the observed which is not yet captured by model. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the model output ascertain the capability of WRF-Chem to reasonably reproduce West African harmattan dust haze from the time and location of being raised to its transportation and propagation and hence its final settling or disappearance over the continental area of West Africa. Model simulation was able to partition the dust particles into five different sizes. It was discovered that dust particles of sizes 1.4 μm, 2.4 μm and 4.5 μm are more prevalent among other sizes from the raised and transported dust over West Africa.

Efficacy of dust aerosol forecasts for East Asia using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem with ground-based observations.

Asian dust storms occur often and have a great impact on East Asia and the western Pacific in spring. Early warnings based on reliable forecasts of dust storms thus are crucial for protecting human health and industry. Here we explore the efficacy of 4-D variational method-based data assimilation in a chemical transport model for dust storm forecasts in East Asia. We use a 3-D global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and its adjoint model with surface PM10 mass concentration observations. We evaluate the model for several severe dust storm events, which occurred in May 2007 and March 2011 in East Asia. First of all, simulated the PM10 mass concentrations with the forward model showed large discrepancies compared with PM10 mass concentrations observed in China, Korea, and Japan, implying large uncertainties of simulated dust emission fluxes in the source regions. Based on our adjoint model constrained by observations for the whole period of each event, the reproduction of the spatial and temporal distributions of observations over East Asia was substantially improved (regression slopes from 0.15 to 2.81 to 0.85-1.02 and normalized mean biases from-74%-151% to-34%-1%). We then examine the efficacy of the data assimilation system for daily dust storm forecasts based on the adjoint model including previous day observations to update the initial condition of the forward model simulation for the next day. The forecast results successfully captured the spatial and temporal variations of ground-based observations in downwind regions, indicating that the data assimilation system with ground-based observations effectively forecasts dust storms, especially in downwind regions. However, the efficacy is limited in nearby the dust source regions, including Mongolia and North China, due to the lack of observations for constraining the model.

Fine-scale application of WRF-CAM5 during a dust storm episode over East Asia: Sensitivity to grid resolutions and aerosol activation parameterizations

An advanced online-coupled meteorology and chemistry model WRF-CAM5 has been applied to East Asia using triple-nested domains at different grid resolutions (i.e., 36-, 12-, and 4-km) to simulate a severe dust storm period in spring 2010. Analyses are performed to evaluate the model performance and investigate model sensitivity to different horizontal grid sizes and aerosol activation parameterizations and to examine aerosol-cloud interactions and their impacts on the air quality. A comprehensive model evaluation of the baseline simulations using the default Abdul-Razzak and Ghan (AG) aerosol activation scheme shows that the model can well predict major meteorological variables such as 2-m temperature (T2), water vapor mixing ratio (Q2), 10-m wind speed (WS10) and wind direction (WD10), and shortwave and longwave radiation across different resolutions with domain-average normalized mean biases typically within ±15%. The baseline simulations also show moderate biases for precipitation and moderate-to-large underpredictions for other major variables associated with aerosol-cloud interactions such as cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC), cloud optical thickness (COT), and cloud liquid water path (LWP) due to uncertainties or limitations in the aerosol-cloud treatments. The model performance is sensitive to grid resolutions, especially for surface meteorological variables such as T2, Q2, WS10, and WD10, with the performance generally improving at finer grid resolutions for those variables. Comparison of the sensitivity simulations with an alternative (i.e., the Fountoukis and Nenes (FN) series scheme) and the default (i.e., AG scheme) aerosol activation scheme shows that the former predicts larger values for cloud variables such as CDNC and COT across all grid resolutions and improves the overall domain-average model performance for many cloud/radiation variables and precipitation. Sensitivity simulations using the FN series scheme also have large impacts on radiations, T2, precipitation, and air quality (e.g., decreasing O3) through complex aerosol-radiation-cloud-chemistry feedbacks. The inclusion of adsorptive activation of dust particles in the FN series scheme has similar impacts on the meteorology and air quality but to lesser extent as compared to differences between the FN series and AG schemes. Compared to the overall differences between the FN series and AG schemes, impacts of adsorptive activation of dust particles can contribute significantly to the increase of total CDNC (∼45%) during dust storm events and indicate their importance in modulating regional climate over East Asia.

The Role of Jet Adjustment Processes in Subtropical Dust Storms

AbstractMeso‐α/β/γ scale atmospheric processes of jet dynamics responsible for generating Harmattan, Saudi Arabian, and Bodélé Depression dust storms are analyzed with observations and high‐resolution modeling. The analysis of the role of jet adjustment processes in each dust storm shows similarities as follows: (1) the presence of a well‐organized baroclinic synoptic scale system, (2) cross mountain flows that produced a leeside inversion layer prior to the large‐scale dust storm, (3) the presence of thermal wind imbalance in the exit region of the midtropospheric jet streak in the lee of the respective mountains shortly after the time of the inversion formation, (4) dust storm formation accompanied by large magnitude ageostrophic isallobaric low‐level winds as part of the meso‐β scale adjustment process, (5) substantial low‐level turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), and (6) emission and uplift of mineral dust in the lee of nearby mountains. The thermally forced meso‐γ scale adjustment processes, which occurred in the canyons/small valleys, may have been the cause of numerous observed dust streaks leading to the entry of the dust into the atmosphere due to the presence of significant vertical motion and TKE generation. This study points to the importance of meso‐β to meso‐γ scale adjustment processes at low atmospheric levels due to an imbalance within the exit region of an upper level jet streak for the formation of severe dust storms. The low level TKE, which is one of the prerequisites to deflate the dust from the surface, cannot be detected with the low resolution data sets; so our results show that a high spatial resolution is required for better representing TKE as a proxy for dust emission.

Revealing the meteorological drivers of the September 2015 severe dust event in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract. In September 2015 one of the severest and most unusual dust events on record occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean. Surprisingly, operational dust transport models were unable to forecast the event. This study details the reasons for this failure and presents simulations of the event at convection-permitting resolution using the modelling system ICON-ART. The results allow for an in-depth analysis of the influence of the synoptic situation, the complex interaction of multiple driving atmospheric systems and the mineral dust radiative effect on the dust event. A comparison of the results with observations reveals the quality of the simulation results with respect to structure and timing of the dust transport. The forecast of the dust event is improved decisively. The event is triggered by the unusually early occurrence of an active Red Sea trough situation with an easterly axis over Mesopotamia. The connected sustained organized mesoscale convection produces multiple cold-pool outflows responsible for intense dust emissions. Complexity is added by the interaction with an intense heat low, the inland-penetrating Eastern Mediterranean sea breeze and the widespread occurrence of supercritical flow conditions and subsequent hydraulic jumps in the vicinity of the Dead Sea Rift Valley. The newly implemented mineral dust radiation interaction leads to systematically more intense and faster propagating cold-pool outflows.

Characteristics of mineral dust impacting the Persian Gulf

Abstract It is generally assumed that severe dust events in western Iran could be responsible for elevated levels of toxic and radioactive elements in the region. Over a period of 5 months, from January 2012 to May 2012, dust particles in the size range PM10 (i.e.

Sensitivity of WRF-Chem model to land surface schemes: Assessment in a severe dust outbreak episode in the Central Mediterranean (Apulia Region)

The Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate a severe Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over Southern Italy in March 2016. Numerical experiments have been performed applying a physics-based dust emission model, with soil properties generated from three different Land Surface Models, namely Noah, RUC and Noah-MP. The model performance in reproducing the severe desert dust outbreak is analysed using an observational dataset of aerosol and desert dust features that includes optical properties from satellite and ground-based sun-photometers, and in-situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. The results reveal that the combination of the dust emission model with the RUC Land Surface Model significantly over-predicts the emitted mineral dust; on the other side, the combination with Noah or Noah-MP Land Surface Model (LSM) gives better results, especially for the daily averaged PM10.

Spatial variation of Aerosol Optical Depth and Solar Irradiance over Delhi -NCR during Summer season

Present study shows the spatial variation of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), solar irradiance and their association at the urban and rural sites in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) during the summer season of the year 2015. Summer-time AOD data from the NASA’s Terra satellite MODIS sensor has been used to study the spatial distribution of aerosols over Delhi and its surrounding rural area. The ground data for the direct and global solar irradiances was collected over this region at urban and rural locations in Delhi and NCR using a Fieldspec Spectro-radiometer. HYSPLIT model has been used for the air mass trajectory analysis. The AOD values were observed to be higher over Delhi compared to the relatively lower AOD in rural area of NCR. The NCR site observed higher average solar irradiances than Delhi during the summer season. This may be because of the higher aerosol concentration in Delhi as compared to its outskirts. Also, this region is affected by the severe dust storm events during the summer season which further increases the aerosol load in the atmosphere. HYSPLIT results show the influence of western Thar Desert air masses on the Delhi-NCR. Windblown as well anthropogenic aerosols play a major role in scattering and absorption of the incoming solar radiation and hence, in governing the micro-climatology of the region.

Projection of American dustiness in the late 21st century due to climate change

Climate models project rising drought risks over the southwestern and central U.S. in the twenty-first century due to increasing greenhouse gases. The projected drier regions largely overlay the major dust sources in the United States. However, whether dust activity in U.S. will increase in the future is not clear, due to the large uncertainty in dust modeling. This study found that changes of dust activity in the U.S. in the recent decade are largely associated with the variations of precipitation, soil bareness, and surface winds speed. Using multi-model output under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 scenario, we project that climate change will increase dust activity in the southern Great Plains from spring to fall in the late half of the twenty-first century – largely due to reduced precipitation, enhanced land surface bareness, and increased surface wind speed. Over the northern Great Plains, less dusty days are expected in spring due to increased precipitation and reduced bareness. Given the large negative economic and societal consequences of severe dust storms, this study complements the multi-model projection on future dust variations and may help improve risk management and resource planning.

Impact of dust and smoke mixing on column-integrated aerosol properties from observations during a severe wildfire episode over Valencia (Spain)

The most destructive wildfire experienced in Spain since 2004 occurred close to Valencia in summer 2012. A total of 48.500ha were affected by two wildfires, which were mostly active during 29–30 June. The fresh smoke plume was detected at the Burjassot measurement station simultaneously to a severe dust episode. We propose an empirical method to evaluate the dust and smoke mixing and its impact on the microphysical and optical properties. For this, we combine direct-sun measurements with a Cimel CE-318 sun-photometer with an inversion methodology, and the Mie theory to derive the column-integrated size distribution, single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry parameter (g). The mixing of dust and smoke greatly increased the aerosol load and modified the background aerosol properties. Mineral dust increased the aerosol optical depth (AOD) up to 1, while the smoke plume caused an extreme AOD peak of 8. The size distribution of the mixture was bimodal, with a fine and coarse modes dominated by the smoke particles and mineral dust, respectively. The SSA and g for the dust-smoke mixture show a marked sensitivity on the smoke mixing-ratio, mainly at longer wavelengths. Mineral dust and smoke share a similar SSA at 440nm (~0.90), but with opposite spectral dependency. A small dust contribution to the total AOD substantially affects the SSA of the mixture, and also SSA at 1020nm increases from 0.87 to 0.95. This leads to a different spectral behaviour of SSA that changes from positive (smoke plume) to negative (dust), depending on the dust and smoke mixing-ratio.

Modeling of a severe dust event and its impacts on ozone photochemistry over the downstream Nanjing megacity of eastern China

Dust aerosols could affect tropospheric photochemistry by interacting with solar radiation or providing reactive surfaces for heterogeneous reactions. This study examines the effects of a typical springtime dust storm (16–18 March, 2014) on ozone photochemistry over the downstream Nanjing megacity in eastern China. The on-line coupled Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model is used, with the inclusion of eight heterogeneous reactions on dust surfaces. Comparisons with satellite data and visibility record indicate that the model is capable of reproducing the onset time and downstream transport of this dust event. Dust particles act as a sink for all these trace gases examined here. The net decreases of O3, NO2, NO3, N2O5, HNO3, OH, HO2 and H2O2 in the atmosphere are estimated as −6.1%, −16.0%, −37.4%, −13.9%, −47.7%, −6.0%, −9.2% and −29.7%, of which more than 80% can be explained by heterogeneous chemistry on dust surfaces. The decreases in ground photolysis rate and OH concentration, along with changes in other weather variables induced by dust aerosols (i.e., radiation and temperature) lead to lower photochemical activity and a small decrease of O3 mixing ratio by roughly 0.5%. This study highlights the importance of dust interaction with ozone photochemistry, and also sets the stage for further investigation of the complicated dust impacts on tropospheric aerosol chemistry.

The dual effect of vegetation green-up date and strong wind on the return period of spring dust storms

Vegetation phenology changes have been widely applied in the disaster risk assessments of the spring dust storms, and vegetation green-up date shifts have a strong influence on dust storms. However, the effect of earlier vegetation green-up dates due to climate warming on the evaluation of dust storms return periods remains an important, but poorly understood issue. In this study, we evaluate the spring dust storm return period (February to June) in Inner Mongolia, Northern China, using 165 observations of severe spring dust storm events from 16 weather stations, and regional vegetation green-up dates as an integrated factor from NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), covering a period from 1982 to 2007, by building the bivariate Copula model. We found that the joint return period showed better fitting results than without considering the integrated factor when the actual dust storm return period is longer than 2years. Also, for extremely severe dust storm events, the gap between simulation result and actual return period can be narrowed up to 0.4888years by using integrated factor. Furthermore, the risk map based on the return period results shows that the Mandula, Zhurihe, Sunitezuoqi, Narenbaolige stations are identified as high risk areas. In this study area, land surface is extensively covered by grasses and shrubs, vegetation green-up date can play a significant role in restraining spring dust storm outbreaks. Therefore, we suggest that Copula method can become a useful tool for joint return period evaluation and risk analysis of severe dust storms.

Sources and pathways of dust during the Australian “Millennium Drought” decade

AbstractFrom the late 1990s to mid‐2010, Australia was affected by a prolonged period of drought, the “Millennium Drought,” during which numerous severe dust storms crossed the continent. We inspect this period to produce the first continental‐scale climatology of air‐parcel trajectories that is specific to dust and use it to gain new insights into dust transport dynamics over the eastern half of Australia. The analysis is based upon dust arrival times from airport meteorological observations made at nine mostly coastal cities for 2000–2009. The Hybrid Single‐Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model was used to calculate 1.26 million backward trajectories from receptor cities, with only those trajectories associated with a dust storm observation considered in the analysis of dust transport. To tie dust trajectories from receptors to likely emission sources, trajectories were linked to six known major dust source regions in and around the Lake Eyre Basin. The Lake Eyre North ephemeral lake system, alluvial‐dominated Channel Country, and agricultural Mallee‐Riverina regions emerge as important sources for the period, providing variable contributions to different parts of the seaboard as controlled by different front‐related wind systems. Our study also provides new detail regarding dust pathways from continental Australia. For the Millennium Drought we identify that the broadly established Southeast Dust Path may be more accurately subdivided into three active pathways, driven by prefrontal northerly winds and a variation in the influence of frontal westerlies. The detail of these pathways has implications for dust delivery from specific Australian sources to different marine environments.

A quantitative evaluation of the 3–8 July 2009 Shamal dust storm

In this paper, a quantitative evaluation of the severe dust storm which occurred in the Middle East during 3–8 July 2009 is presented. The quantification is based on the numerical simulation using the WRF/Chem-D model which has been verified and calibrated for the Middle East region. It is found that, during the 3–8 July 2009 event, more than 9.67 Tg dust were emitted from the study area and the maximum simulated dust emission rate is 540 (μg m−2 s−1). The west of Iraq, east of Syria and northwest of Jordan (Al-Nafud desert and western Euphrates alluvial plain) are found to be the most active areas of dust emission, contributing much to the dust emission from the Middle East region. In this study, more that 60% of dust particles were emitted from these areas and less than 10% were emitted from Iran dust sources. About 21% of the deposited dust was deposited in Iran land, while 79% in other parts of the study area. The dust load in the study area was estimated to be more than 0.3 g m−2. The residence time of dust in the atmosphere was 6.2 days over the study area, 7.8 days over Iran and 6 days over other parts. The simulation results exhibit that Iran contribution in emission rate in the study area is much lower than its contribution in dust deposition and residence time and the conclusion of this study can demonstrate the necessity of forming cooperation for suppressing the severe dust events.

Integrated Analysis of Dust Transport and Budget in a Severe Asian Dust Event

Asian dust storms markedly affect the ecosystem, environment, ocean biogeochemical cycle, and regional climate. Numerous measurements and model simulations have been performed to investigate the sources and transport of Asian dust. However, until now, few studies have performed a comprehensive quantification of the dust budget, resulting in significant uncertainty about the characterization of dust transport, emission, and deposition. In this study, a severe dust event in East Asia that occurred from April 28 till May 3, 2011, was analyzed in terms of dust transport characteristics based on multi-satellite observations and the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. In particular, the dust budget of the event was quantitatively estimated using a new atmospheric reanalysis dataset, namely the second Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2). The multi-satellite observations and models indicated that dust events such as this are uncommon. A two-layered dust structure was found in southeast China, the lower (< 1.5 km) and elevated (> 3 km) layers of which mainly originated from the Gobi and Taklimakan Deserts, respectively. The dust budget in East Asia, as estimated from MERRA-2, revealed a high dust mass loading (5.7–6.6 Tg) between 70°E and 140°E from April 29 till May 1, with the highest daily dust loading (approximately 6.6 Tg) reported on April 30. The total dust emission was 6.3 Tg over a 6-day period (April 28–May 3), and the maximum amount (nearly 5.9 Tg) of dust was deposited on the ground in the region. The dust flux amounts horizontally transported across the longitudinal boundary of 70°E and 140°E were 1.7 and 2.8 Tg, respectively.

Simulation and Numerical Analysis of severe dust storms Iran East

Simulation and Numerical Analysis of severe dust storms Iran East

Short-Term Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth during the Severe Dust Storm in 2015 over the Middle East and Long-term Variations of Aerosol Optical Properties

Severe dust storm, with winds reaching 100 km/h, caused widespread disruption across the Middle East and northeastern part of Africa in February 2015. Residents of the regions experienced extraordinary increases in air pollution from 1 to 13 February 2015. We have analyzed changes in aerosol optical depth (AOD) during this event to identify the effect and the sources of such dust storms in the Middle East using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Multi-angle Imaging Spectrometer and the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation. Maximum AOD values occurred on 11 of February in some dust sources including Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and Solar Village (Saudi Arabia), where values 0.8, 1, 1.3 and 0.7 were recorded, respectively. In Iran, maximum AOD were recorded on the 11th of February over the southwestern regions including Ahvaz and Ilam cities, reaching 1.3 and 1, respectively. The study of MISRAOD showed an increasing trend in AOD over Ahvaz and Solar Village during 2000-2015. Aerosol optical properties such as Aerosol Volume Size Distribution (AVSD) Asymmetry parameter (ASY) and Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) have been analyzed for Zanjan (AERONET site) during 2010-2013. Monthly variation of AVSD indicated that the AVSD’s peaks occur in warm months. The mean value of ASY was found to be Σ0.7 in the cloud-free atmosphere for summer that shows high pollution level in Zanjan. The Aerosol Radiative Forcing (ARF) ranged from -79 Wm-2 to -10 Wm-2 at the surface and from -25 Wm-2 to 6 wm-2 at the top of the atmosphere.

Numerical Studies on a Severe Dust Storm in East Asia Using WRF-Chem

Dust storm is one of the important natural disasters, which can have significant impact on terrestrial ecosystem, global climate, air quality and human health. In Mar. 19-23, 2010, a serious dust storm occurred over East Asia. It started from Mongolia, initially extending to the east, turning to the South of China, then back to the Northeast Asia. About 20% of the areas in China suffered from this severe dust event and the air was heavily polluted with massive airborne particulates. The Air Pollution Index (API) in many cities exceeded 500 when dust storm passed by, while the maximum surface PM10 concentration reached 1900 &#181g/m3 in east area. The coarse particles were dominated in PM10, with fine particles named as PM2.5 only accounting for 5% - 20% at cities along the dust moving track in South and East China. MODIS and CALIPSO satellite data were used to investigate the horizontal and vertical patterns of optical parameters of dust aerosol. The average AOD reached 2 - 2.5 on dust days in most southeast regions. The dust can be transported up to 5 Km with maximum aerosol extinction coefficient of 0.35 - 0.4 at 1 - 3 Km in vertical. Synoptic weather was analyzed to understand the meteorological conditions and the backward trajectories were calculated to investigate the movements of air mass. The WRF-Chem model (Version 3.2) was applied to simulate the transport and deposition of the dust aerosols. The performance of Shaw (2008) and Chin (2002) parameterization schemes for dust emissions in WRF-Chem were evaluated. Modeling results were compared with the CUACE-Dust and RegCCMS. Investigations show that WRF-Chem has capability on simulations on dust emission, long range transport and deposition. Shaw (2008) scheme gives more reasonable spatial distribution of dust aerosols, while Chin (2002) scheme presents more better results in terms of PM10 surface concentration simulation. It is suggested that two schemes can be used at the same time in terms of simulation of dust pattern and concentration.

Transport of East Asian dust storms to the marginal seas of China and the southern North Pacific in spring 2010

The transport of a super-severe dust storm that occurred in East Asia from 19 to 22 March 2010 has been well documented by both model simulations and surface observations. We investigated the transport of this severe dust storm and several other spring 2010 dust storms using model simulations, backward trajectories, and measurements from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite. The model simulations indicated that the emission of dust in spring 2010 was about 35% higher than that in spring 2006 and was twice that of the 44-year average from 1960 to 2003. The dust emissions over two major source regions (western China and the Gobi Desert) in spring 2010 accounted for 86% of the total amount of dust. The simulated depositional flux over the two major source regions was c.2.7–9.0 times that over two marginal seas (the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea) and more than two magnitudes higher than that over the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The mean extinction coefficient observed by the CALIPSO satellite over the two source regions was c.1.3–3.7 times that over the two marginal seas and one magnitude higher than that over the North Pacific. This was consistent with the result from our model, suggesting that this model is able to capture the major features of dust storms. The vertical profiles recorded by the CALIPSO satellite indicated that the dust aerosol mainly floated from the ground to 13 km above ground level over the source regions and above the seas. A multiple dust layer appeared over the seas and the backward trajectories suggested that the dust aerosol in different layers may have been sourced from different regions.