Transport Of Mineral Dust Research Articles

Water-soluble ions measured in fine particulate matter next to cement works

Abstract PM2.5 samples were collected for one year in a suburban area close to an industrial complex formed by two cement factories and some quarries in southeastern Spain. Samples were analyzed by ion chromatography to determine the concentrations of major inorganic ions: Cl − , NO 3 − , SO 4 2− , Na + , NH 4 + , K + , Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ . The average PM2.5 concentration (17.6 μg m −3 ) was within the interval reported for other Mediterranean suburban environments. Concentration peaks were registered during both winter and summer, concurrently with maxima levels of nitrate and sulfate, due to stagnation conditions and African dust episodes, respectively. Sulfate was found to be a main contributor to PM2.5 aerosol mass (4.2 μg m −3 , 24%), followed by nitrate and ammonium (1.5 μg m −3 , 9% each one). Correlation analyses demonstrated that fine sulfate was present as (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , CaSO 4 and Na 2 SO 4 since ammonium concentrations were not high enough to neutralize both anions. The mean concentration of calcium (1.0 μg m −3 ), an element commonly found in the coarse fraction, was higher than those found in other locations of the Mediterranean basin. Additionally, the lowest levels were registered during summer, in contrast with previous findings. This was attributed to resuspension and transport of mineral dust from the neighboring quarries and cement plants during fall and winter, which was supported by the results of the CPF analysis. Atmospheric levels of potassium and chloride (0.28 and 0.51 μg m −3 annual average, respectively) also seemed to be affected by cement works, as suggested by correlation and CPF analyses. In the case of Cl − , a marked seasonality was observed, with mean winter concentrations considerably higher than summer ones, indicating a clear prevalence of anthropogenic sources over sea spray emissions.

Impact of Pollutant Transport on the Air Quality of Shanghai in 2007

Pollutant transport has a significant impact on the air quality of Shanghai. To quantify this impact, we comprehensively analyze the characteristics and formation mechanisms of air pollution in Shanghai, using a data set covering five selected air quality monitoring sites and a meteorological site. We find air pollution events occur ∼10% of the year. These events are classified into three typical categories, namely the local pollution case (LP), the dust storm case (DS) and the regional transport case (RT), based on temporal variations and spatial distributions of PM10 and gaseous pollutants as well as meteorological factors and backward trajectories. The ratios of SO2/PM10, NO2/PM10 and PM2.5/PM10 are used as indicators of long-range transport of mineral dust, while CO proves to be a good tracer of regional transport of anthropogenic pollutants. In 2007, 64% of all pollution events were RT and the mean PM10 concentration reached 220 μg m-3. 17% of all pollution events were DS and the mean PM10 concentration reached 310 μg m-3. We estimate that transport contribution to PM10 abundance was within the range of 34% to 64% by comparing the anomaly of the background concentration with the urban concentration.

Saharan dust and ice nuclei over Central Europe

Abstract. Surface measurements of aerosol and ice nuclei (IN) at a Central European mountain site during an episode of dust transport from the Sahara are presented. Ice nuclei were sampled by electrostatic precipitation on silicon wafers and were analyzed in an isothermal static vapor diffusion chamber. The transport of mineral dust is simulated by the Eulerian regional dust model DREAM. Ice nuclei and mineral dust are significantly correlated, in particular IN number concentration and aerosol surface area. The ice nucleating characteristics of the aerosol as analyzed with respect to temperature and supersaturation are similar during the dust episode than during the course of the year. This suggests that dust may be a main constituent of ice nucleating aerosols in Central Europe.

Particulate matter (PM10) in Istanbul: Origin, source areas and potential impact on surrounding regions

Water-soluble ions (Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, C2O4−, Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+,Ca2+), water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic and elemental carbon (OC, EC) and trace metals (Al, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) were measured in aerosol PM10 samples above the megacity of Istanbul between November 2007 and June 2009. Source apportionment analysis using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) indicates that approximately 80% of the PM10 is anthropogenic in origin (secondary, refuse incineration, fuel oil and solid fuel combustion and traffic). Crustal and sea salt account for 10.2 and 7.5% of the observed mass, respectively. In general, anthropogenic (except secondary) aerosol shows higher concentrations and contributions in winter. Mean concentration and contribution of crustal source is found to be more important during the transitional period due to mineral dust transport from North Africa. During the sampling period, 42 events exceeding the limit value of 50 μg m−3 are identified. A significant percentage (91%; n = 38) of these exceedances is attributed to anthropogenic sources. Potential Source Contribution Function analysis highlights that Istanbul is affected from distant sources from Balkans and Western Europe during winter and from Eastern Europe during summer. On the other hand, Istanbul sources influence western Black Sea and Eastern Europe during winter and Aegean and Levantine Sea during summer.

A multiyear analysis of aerosol optical thickness over Europe and Central Poland using NAAPS model simulation

This study contains a comparative analysis of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) between numerical calculations obtained from the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) model and direct observations from the AERONET robotic network and the Saharan Aerosol over WArsaw (SAWA) field campaign. AOT was calculated for 500 nm wavelength. The comparison shows underestimation of the total aerosol optical thickness simulated by NAAPS. The correlation coefficients between model and observation oscillates between 0.57 and 0.72. Results of seven-year (1998–2004) NAAPS simulation of aerosol components (sea salt, mineral dust, sulphate, and smoke) show large temporal and spatial variability of the aerosol optical thickness over Europe. The least polluted region is the Iberian Peninsula, while the highest aerosol burdens occurred in Central Europe, mostly due to anthropogenic sulphate particles. Finally, the analysis of mineral dust transport shows frequent episodes of Saharan dust inflow over Central Europe. There are about 20 days a year (4 days in May) when instantaneous AOT associated with mineral dust aerosol increases over 0.1.

Aerosol concentrations observed at Mt. Haruna, Japan, in relation to long-range transport of Asian mineral dust aerosols

As a part of the effort to understand the structure of long-range transported aerosol plumes and local pollution, aerosol observations monitored the mass concentrations and number-size distributions during the period August 2006 to July 2009 near the top of Mt. Haruna (1365 m), an isolated mountain in the Kanto Plain in Japan. The mass concentrations observed at Mt. Haruna and plain sites showed a seasonal variation with a maximum in spring and summer, respectively. The spring peaks in aerosols at Mt. Haruna were probably caused by long-range transport of mineral dust and anthropogenic particles from the Asian continent. The summer peaks at the plain sites was attributed to local pollution from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Three examples of 2007 Asian dust events were investigated to show that aerosols may be dispersed in a complicated three-dimensional structure and that delayed arrivals of the dust plumes at plain sites compared to Mt. Haruna were not a rare case. Because of the boundary layer being stable at night, the dust layer was advected eastward without the vertical mixing before sunrise. This study suggests that after thermal convection activated by sunlight during daytime Asian dust transported in the free troposphere may be brought down into the atmospheric boundary layer, increasing the dust concentration there.

Variations on morphology and elemental composition of mineral dust particles from local, regional, and long‐range transport meteorological scenarios

Mineral dust is the second major source of PM10 in Madrid, reaching up to 80% of the PM10 mass during certain long‐range dust transport events. Three different types of scenarios have been found to be associated with the high particle concentration episodes in the city: local anthropogenic, regional recirculation, and African dust transport processes. The present study focuses on the characterization of the individual mineral dust particles related to some chemical and morphological features during these three types of episodes, with special attention to local and regional episodes. To achieve this purpose, four different samples were selectively collected during the 2004–2005 period campaigns, one corresponding to each type of scenario and other sample from an Atlantic ventilated one. Meteorological situation, dust source identification, impact on ambient concentrations, size range distribution, and particle individual analysis have been characterized for each of them. Elemental composition and morphology of more than 30,000 mineral particles were analyzed by computer‐controlled scanning electron microscopy. Particles were grouped into clusters based on their elemental composition, and the aspect ratio (AR) of each cluster or category was compared for each type of episode. The AR was related to the mineralogical crystal structure of each chemical cluster. The dates chosen for microscopy analysis were in good agreement in size distribution and chemical composition with the average of the dates in the entire campaign and with those from previous campaigns. Major differences between local/regional and long‐range transported mineral dust were found in the relative abundance between carbonates and silicates, with much higher abundance of calcium carbonates in the first ones. These differences between silicate and carbonate contents were consistent with the results found in previous campaigns and were directly related to the composition of the parent topsoil by studying the Ca/Si ratios of similar episodes recorded all over the Iberian Peninsula. Differences in morphology were also found for these scenarios. The predominance of calcium carbonate under regional and local influence is scientifically relevant since this mineral is known to react with both SO2 and HNO3 in the atmosphere. Larger average AR values were found for dust particles from long‐range transport, and smaller average AR values were found for particles from local and regional resuspended dust. The increasing average AR value has been linked to the silicate cluster presence, whereas a reduction has been observed within the carbonate cluster.

Australian dust storms in 2002–2003 and their impact on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry

During late 2002 and early 2003, southern Australia was in the grip of drought and experienced one of its most active dust storm seasons in the last 40 years with large dust plumes frequently advected over the adjacent Southern Ocean. We use meteorological records of dust activity, satellite ocean color, and aerosol optical depth data and dust transport modeling to investigate the transport and deposition of mineral dust from Australia over adjacent ocean regions and to correlate it with biological response in phytoplankton standing stock as measured by chlorophyll a concentration in 5 degree latitude bands from 40° to 60°S. Seasonal maxima in mean surface chlorophyll a of ∼0.5 mg m−3 were not achieved until late January 2003 or during February in the more southerly bands, which when compared with a 9 year satellite mean climatology suggests the phenology of the bloom in 2002–2003 was atypical. Contemporaneous field data on CO2 fugacity collected on transects between Tasmania and Antarctica show that significant atmospheric CO2 drawdown occurred as far south as 60°S during February 2003. Our results provide strong evidence for a large‐scale natural dust fertilization event in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean and highlight the importance of dust‐derived nutrients in the marine carbon cycle of the Southern Ocean.

Impact of mineral dust on nitrate, sulfate, and ozone in transpacific Asian pollution plumes

Abstract. We use a 3-D global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to interpret aircraft observations of nitrate and sulfate partitioning in transpacific dust plumes during the INTEX-B campaign of April–May 2006. The model includes explicit transport of size-resolved mineral dust and its alkalinity, nitrate, and sulfate content. The observations show that particulate nitrate is primarily associated with dust, sulfate is primarily associated with ammonium, and Asian dust remains alkaline across the Pacific. This can be reproduced in the model by using a reactive uptake coefficient for HNO3 on dust (γ(HNO3) ~10−3) much lower than commonly assumed in models and possibly reflecting limitation of uptake by dust dissolution. The model overestimates gas-phase HNO3 by a factor of 2–3, typical of previous model studies; we show that this cannot be corrected by uptake on dust. We find that the fraction of aerosol nitrate on dust in the model increases from ~30% in fresh Asian outflow to 80–90% over the Northeast Pacific, reflecting in part the volatilization of ammonium nitrate and the resulting transfer of nitrate to the dust. Consumption of dust alkalinity by uptake of acid gases in the model is slow relative to the lifetime of dust against deposition, so that dust does not acidify (at least not in the bulk). This limits the potential for dust iron released by acidification to become bio-available upon dust deposition. Observations in INTEX-B show no detectable ozone depletion in Asian dust plumes, consistent with the model. Uptake of HNO3 by dust, suppressing its recycling to NOx, reduces Asian pollution influence on US surface ozone in the model by 10–15% or up to 1 ppb.

Climatology of columnar aerosol properties and the influence of synoptic conditions: First‐time results from the northeastern region of India

Six years of spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs), from the northeastern part of India (Dibrugarh), are used to evolve a climatology for this region. The results indicate that the seasonal mean AODs at 500 nm go as high as 0.45 ± 0.05 during premonsoon season (March to May), decrease gradually through the monsoon (June to September) to reach the lowest value of 0.19 ± 0.06 during the retreating‐monsoon season (October and November), and increase to 0.31 ± 0.04 in winter (December to February). The AOD spectra are generally flatter than those seen typically over continental sites of India (and elsewhere in the neighboring regions) with Ångström exponent α remaining below 1.0 during February through August, indicating a relatively low abundance of fine and accumulation mode aerosols. The columnar size distributions (CSD) retrieved from spectral AODs are, in general, bimodal with primary mode at ∼ 0.1 μm and secondary mode at ∼ 1.0 μm. High mass loading (∼309.5 ± 65.9 mg m−2) and effective radius (∼0.40 ± 0.09 μm) occur during premonsoon and are attributed to significant abundance of coarse (natural) aerosols. Cluster analysis of air mass back trajectories indicate significant transport of mineral dust from the arid regions of west Asia and northwest India across the Indo‐Gangetic plains and marine aerosols advected from the Bay of Bengal contributing largely to the coarse mode aerosols during this season. On the other hand, the peculiar topography combined with the local conditions and the widespread rainfall lead to a more pristine environment during retreating‐monsoon season with quite low AODs and columnar loading.

Predictability of mineral dust concentrations: The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis first short observation period forecasted with CHIMERE‐DUST

The predictability of northern Africa dust events is assessed using daily numerical forecast simulations for the next 3 days. The dust concentration fields, modeled with the CHIMERE‐DUST model, were first evaluated by comparison with both Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) surface data and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) satellite measurements. The accuracy and spread between measurements and simulations are discussed for the first short observation period of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) experiment in western Africa, between January and March 2006. The predictability of dust events was then estimated by comparing model results for different leads in a forecast mode. The model performance was evaluated with respect to its capability to forecast the surface wind speed, which is the key process for dust emission, and the transport of mineral dust near source regions and toward remote areas. It is shown that forecast emissions can vary up to 80% (close to the sources) but that the variability on forecasted dust concentrations and optical thicknesses do not exceed 40% and 20%.

Kuzeydoğu Akdeniz`de Kızıl Yağmurlar

North Eastern Mediterranean is under the influence of sporadic dust transportation from desert sources in North Africa (The Great Sahara) and the Middle East (Arabian Peninsula) particularly during the spring and autumn. Mineral dust originated from these arid regions has characteristic reddish yellow-reddish brown color due to its high iron oxide content. Following atmospheric transport, mineral dust settles by either dry or wet (washout or rainout) deposition mechanisms. Precipitation samples collected at Mersin on the Eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey during the period of December 2003-December 2004 have been investigated with respect to their dust contents, Backward air mass trajectories corresponding to the rainy days were analyzed to determine potential source regions of dust transported to the Northeastern Mediterranean. Approximately, 1/4 of the total precipitation samples can be evaluated as red The mean electrical conductivity and the volume weighted mean Al concentration of rain was found to be approximately seven times and five times higher than normal rain, respectively; while the dissolution of the calcite in dust has caused an order of magnitude decrease in the volume weighted mean hydrogen ion concentration of rain, by neutralizing (buffering) the acidity of rainwater. Due to dissolution of atmospheric CO 2 in rainwater, natural precipitation is slightly acidic (pH≈ 5.6). In this study, the volume weighted mean pH values were calculated to be 6.09 for normal rain and 7.27 for rain. Using Al concentration of precipitation samples, wet deposition flux of mineral dust during 2004 was found to be 2.13 g m -2 yr -1 . If dry deposition flux is added to this value, a total flux of 4.84 g m -2 yr -1 is found for atmospherically transported mineral dust.

Overview of the Dust and Biomass‐burning Experiment and African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis Special Observing Period‐0

The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) is a major international campaign investigating far‐reaching aspects of the African monsoon, climate and the hydrological cycle. A special observing period was established for the dry season (SOP0) with a focus on aerosol and radiation measurements. SOP0 took place during January and February 2006 and involved several ground‐based measurement sites across west Africa. These were augmented by aircraft measurements made by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) aircraft during the Dust and Biomass‐burning Experiment (DABEX), measurements from an ultralight aircraft, and dedicated modeling efforts. We provide an overview of these measurement and modeling studies together with an analysis of the meteorological conditions that determined the aerosol transport and link the results together to provide a balanced synthesis. The biomass burning aerosol was significantly more absorbing than that measured in other areas and, unlike industrial areas, the ratio of excess carbon monoxide to organic carbon was invariant, which may be owing to interaction between the organic carbon and mineral dust aerosol. The mineral dust aerosol in situ filter measurements close to Niamey reveals very little absorption, while other measurements and remote sensing inversions suggest significantly more absorption. The influence of both mineral dust and biomass burning aerosol on the radiation budget is significant throughout the period, implying that meteorological models should include their radiative effects for accurate weather forecasts and climate simulations. Generally, the operational meteorological models that simulate the production and transport of mineral dust show skill at lead times of 5 days or more. Climate models that need to accurately simulate the vertical profiles of both anthropogenic and natural aerosols to accurately represent the direct and indirect effects of aerosols appear to do a reasonable job, although the magnitude of the aerosol scattering is strongly dependent upon the emission data set.

Background ozone in the southern Europe and Mediterranean area: Influence of the transport processes

The troposphere is subject to continuous inputs, production and removal processes of ozone and its precursors from natural processes and human activities acting together within a very complex system. In order to assess the behaviour of background ozone in the Mediterranean area, a description of trends, seasonal and diurnal behaviours of free tropospheric ozone is provided. In the Mediterranean area and southern Europe the background tropospheric ozone concentration appears significantly affected by three main air mass transport processes: (i) transport of polluted air masses on regional and long-range scales, (ii) downward transport of stratospheric air masses, and (iii) transport of mineral dust from the Sahara desert. In this review of the literature of the last two decades, we present an overview of these phenomena, mainly monitored at high baseline mountain stations representative of background atmospheric conditions.

Distribution, transport, and deposition of mineral dust in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica: Contribution of major sources

A model‐based investigation of the transport, distribution and deposition of mineral dust in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) is performed by using the GFDL Atmospheric Model (AM2). The study represents an attempt to quantify the contribution of the major sources by tagging dust based on its origin. We evaluate the contribution of each source to the emission, distribution, mass burden and deposition of dust in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, and show that each source produces distinctive meridional transport, vertical distribution, and deposition patterns. The dust in SH originates primarily from Australia (120 Tg a−1), Patagonia (38 Tg a−1) and the inter‐hemispheric transport from Northern Hemisphere (31 Tg a−1). A small fraction of it (7 Tg a−1) is transported and deposited in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, where dust from South America, Australia, and Northern Hemisphere are essentially located in the boundary layer, mid‐troposphere, and upper‐troposphere, respectively. These three sources contribute to nearly all the dust burden in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. South America and Australia are the main sources of the dust deposition, but they differ zonally, with each one dominating half of a hemisphere along 120°E–60°W: the half comprising the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the case of the South American dust and the Pacific half in the case of the Australian dust. Our study also indicates a potentially important role of Northern Hemisphere dust, as it appears to be a significant part of the dust burden but contributing little to the dust deposition in Antarctica.

Saharan mineral dust transport into the Caribbean: Observed atmospheric controls and trends

Each summer large amounts of mineral dust from the Sahara are transported across the Atlantic and arrive at the Caribbean with far‐reaching implications for climate in this region. In this paper we analyze summer season interannual variability of North African mineral dust over the Caribbean using the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)/Nimbus 7 (1979–1992) and TOMS/Earth Probe (1998–2000) satellite aerosol data. We apply the “centers of action” approach to gain insight into the atmospheric controls on Saharan dust transport into the Caribbean and identify longitudinal displacement and pressure fluctuation of the Hawaiian High as well as longitudinal displacement of the Azores High as key players. In contrast, traditional indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation are not correlated with the mineral dust variations over the Caribbean region. We utilize National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis to investigate the underlying physical mechanisms and to identify meteorological conditions that correspond to high and low dust loads. Our analysis shows that two different transport routes from distinct source regions are responsible for transporting mineral dust into the Caribbean: a northern mode in which dust mobilized from the Sahara travels westward controlled primarily by the Azores High and a southern mode in which intense dust clouds originating in the Sahel region travel over the Gulf of Guinea to reach the Caribbean. The latter is controlled primarily by teleconnections with the Hawaiian High.

A combined analysis of backward trajectories and aerosol chemistry to characterise long-range transport episodes of particulate matter: The Madrid air basin, a case study

This study has investigated the influence of synoptic weather patterns and long-range transport episodes on the concentration levels of airborne particulate matter (TSP, PM10 and PM2.5) and some major ions (SO 4 2−, NO 3 − and NH 4 +) at a background rural station in central Spain. Air mass back-trajectories arriving at the site in 1999–2005 have been analysed by statistical methods. First, cluster analysis was used to group trajectories into 8 clusters depending on their direction and speed. Meteorological scenarios associated to each cluster have been obtained and interpreted. Then, the incidence of different air mass transport patterns on particle concentrations and composition recorded at this station was evaluated. This evaluation included PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations and chemical composition data, obtained at three representative sites of the Madrid air basin during sampling campaigns carried out in the course of the 1999–2005 period. Finally, a residence time analysis of trajectories was also performed to detect remote sources and transport pathways. Significantly elevated concentrations of TSP and PM10 were observed for Northern African flows as a consequence of the transport of mineral dust. Significant inter-cluster differences were also observed for PM2.5 and secondary inorganic compounds, with the highest concentrations associated with low baric gradient situations and Southern European flows. The residence time analysis confirmed that current TSP and PM10 concentrations in central Spain are likely to be influenced significantly by long-range transport of desert dust from different desert regions in North Africa. Furthermore, emissions from continental Europe with a high time of residence in the western and central areas of the Mediterranean basin, seem to significantly influence PM2.5 and secondary inorganic aerosol concentrations in this region.

Neutron activation analysis for identification of African mineral dust transport

A Gent stacked filter unit sampler was used to collect air particulate matter (APM) in separate coarse (PM2.5–10) and fine (PM2.5) size fractions, at a sub-urban site in Lisbon, Portugal. The sampling was done during the year 2001 and two daily samples were taken per week. The filters were analyzed for particulate mass by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The chemical analysis of APM levels and the study of the atmospheric dynamics by back-trajectories showed that most of the PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 peaks events were associated with air masses transport from the Saharan desert. High mineral load in ambient particulate matter levels were registered during the Saharan dust outbreaks. The accuracy of INAA to measure Fe, Sc and Sm was evaluated by NIST filter standards, revealing results with an agreement of ± 10%. This method constituted an important tool to identify these events.

Size-segregated fluxes of mineral dust from a desert area of northern China by eddy covariance

Abstract. Mineral dust emission accounts for a substantial portion of particles present in the troposphere. It is emitted mostly from desert areas, mainly through intense storm episodes. The aim of this work was to quantify size-segregated fluxes of mineral dust particles emitted during storm events occurring in desert areas of northern China (Alashan desert, Inner Mongolia), known to act as one of the strongest sources of mineral dust particles in the Asian continent. Long-range transport of mineral dust emitted in this area is responsible for the high particle concentrations reached in densely populated areas, including the city of Beijing. Based on a theoretical analysis, an eddy covariance system was built to get size-segregated fluxes of mineral dust particles with optical diameters ranging between 0.26 and 7.00 µm. The system was optimised to measure fluxes under intense storm event conditions. It was tested in two sites located in the Chinese portion of the Gobi desert. During the field campaign, an intense wind erosion event, classified as a "weak dust storm", was recorded in one of them. Data obtained during this event indicate that particle number fluxes were dominated by the finer fraction, whereas in terms of mass, coarser particle accounted for the largest portion. It was found that during the storm event, ratios of size-segregated particle mass fluxes remained substantially constant and a simple parameterization of particle emission from total mass fluxes was possible. A strong correlation was also found between particle mass fluxes and the friction velocity. This relationship is extremely useful to investigate mechanisms of particle formation by wind erosion.

Aerosol radiative forcing over the Indo-Gangetic plains during major dust storms

Indo-Gangetic (IG) alluvial plains, one of the largest river basins in the world, suffers from the long range transport of mineral dust from the western arid and desert regions of Africa, Arabia and Rajasthan during the summer (pre-monsoon season, April–June). These dust storms influence the aerosol optical depth (AOD) across the IG plains. The Kanpur AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) station and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) data show pronounced effect on the aerosol optical properties and aerosol size distribution during major dust storm events over the IG plains that have significant effect on the aerosol radiative forcing (ARF). The multi-band AOD, from AERONET and MODIS, show contrasting changes in wavelength dependency over dust affected regions. A time collocated (±30 min) validation of AERONET AOD with MODIS Terra (level 2 swath product) over Kanpur, at a common wavelength of 550 nm for the period 2001–2005 show moderate correlation ( R 2∼0.6) during the summer season. The average surface forcing is found to change by −23 W m −2 during dust events and the top of the atmosphere (TOA) forcing change by −11 W m −2 as compared to the non-dusty clear-sky days. A strong correlation is found between AOD at 500 nm and the ARF. At surface, the correlation coefficient between AOD and ARF is found to be high ( R 2=0.925) and is found to be moderate ( R 2=0.628) at the TOA. The slope of the regression line gives the aerosol forcing efficiency at 500 nm of about −46±2.6 W m −2 and −17±2.5 W m −2 at the surface and the TOA, respectively. The ARF is found to increase with the advance of the dry season in conjunction with the gradual rise in AOD (at 500 nm) from April (0.4–0.5) to June (0.6–0.7) over the IG plains.