Simulation and Analyses of the Potential Impacts of Different Particle-Size Dust Aerosols Caused by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Desertification on East Asia

In this paper on the analysis of the vertical distribution of different-diameter dust aerosols and the potential impacts on East Asia, the sensitivity simulation tests of dust aerosols during 2002–03 were conducted by changing the underlying surface on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the global atmospheric circulation model Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) 3.1. The results show that dust aerosol particles in East Asia are mainly distributed in the diameters of 0.64–5.12 μm. The high concentrations of dust aerosols are centered on the surface in the source areas and gradually raised during the eastward transport across East Asia, reaching a height of 4 km at 120° E. The small dust particles with diameters less than 1.28 μm are transported higher and farther driven by the midlatitude westerlies. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau desertification leads to increasing concentrations of dust aerosols in all size bins and raisesthe transport height of dust aerosols in East Asia. The long-range transport in the East Asian troposphere is dominated by dust aerosols particles of diameters 0.64–2.56 μm, as well as a large contribution of dust aerosols with diameters larger than 1.28 μm.

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Emission, transport, and radiative effects of mineral dust from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts: comparison of measurements and model results

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-17-2401-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 2401-2421 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Siyu Chen ◽

Jianping Huang ◽

Litai Kang ◽

Hao Wang ◽

Xiaojun Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Dust Emission ◽

Dust Concentration ◽

Dust Particles ◽

Storm Event ◽

Gobi Desert ◽

Radiative Effects ◽

Dust Aerosols ◽

Budget Analysis ◽

Westerly Jets

Abstract. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model with chemistry (WRF-Chem model) was used to investigate a typical dust storm event that occurred from 18 to 23 March 2010 and swept across almost all of China, Japan, and Korea. The spatial and temporal variations in dust aerosols and the meteorological conditions over East Asia were well reproduced by the WRF-Chem model. The simulation results were used to further investigate the details of processes related to dust emission, long-range transport, and radiative effects of dust aerosols over the Taklimakan Desert (TD) and Gobi Desert (GD). The results indicated that weather conditions, topography, and surface types in dust source regions may influence dust emission, uplift height, and transport at the regional scale. The GD was located in the warm zone in advance of the cold front in this case. Rapidly warming surface temperatures and cold air advection at high levels caused strong instability in the atmosphere, which strengthened the downward momentum transported from the middle and low troposphere and caused strong surface winds. Moreover, the GD is located in a relatively flat, high-altitude region influenced by the confluence of the northern and southern westerly jets. Therefore, the GD dust particles were easily lofted to 4 km and were the primary contributor to the dust concentration over East Asia. In the dust budget analysis, the dust emission flux over the TD was 27.2 ± 4.1 µg m−2 s−1, which was similar to that over the GD (29 ± 3.6 µg m−2 s−1). However, the transport contribution of the TD dust (up to 0.8 ton d−1) to the dust sink was much smaller than that of the GD dust (up to 3.7 ton d−1) because of the complex terrain and the prevailing wind in the TD. Notably, a small amount of the TD dust (PM2.5 dust concentration of approximately 8.7 µg m−3) was lofted to above 5 km and transported over greater distances under the influence of the westerly jets. Moreover, the direct radiative forcing induced by dust was estimated to be −3 and −7 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere, −8 and −10 W m−2 at the surface, and +5 and +3 W m−2 in the atmosphere over the TD and GD, respectively. This study provides confidence for further understanding the climate effects of the GD dust.

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The relationship between ionospheric total electron content (TEC) over East Asia and the tropospheric circulation around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau obtained with a partial correlation method

Advances in Space Research ◽

10.1016/j.asr.2008.01.007 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 219-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Guirong Xu ◽

Weixing Wan ◽

Chengli She ◽

Liangmin Du

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Partial Correlation ◽

Correlation Method ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Electron Content ◽

Total Electron ◽

Ionospheric Total Electron Content ◽

Tropospheric Circulation ◽

Qinghai Tibet Plateau ◽

The Relationship

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Vertical Structures of Dust Aerosols over East Asia Based on CALIPSO Retrievals

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs11060701 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 701 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Di Liu ◽

Tianliang Zhao ◽

Richard Boiyo ◽

Siyu Chen ◽

Zhengqi Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Variation ◽

East Asia ◽

Aerosol Optical Depth ◽

Optical Depth ◽

Dust Particles ◽

Dust Source ◽

Layer Height ◽

Dust Aerosols ◽

Source Regions ◽

Autumn And Winter

The spatiotemporal and especially the vertical distributions of dust aerosols play crucial roles in the climatic effect of dust aerosol. In the present study, the spatial-temporal distribution of dust aerosols over East Asia was investigated using Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) retrievals (01/2007–12/2011) from the perspective of the frequency of dust occurrence (FDO), dust top layer height (TH) and profile of aerosol subtypes. The results showed that a typical dust belt was generated from the dust source regions (the Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts), in the latitude range of 25°N~45°N and reaching eastern China, Japan and Korea and, eventually, the Pacific Ocean. High dust frequencies were found over the dust source regions, with a seasonal sequence from high to low as follows: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Vertically, FDOs peaked at about 2 km over the dust source regions. In contrast, FDOs decreased with altitude over the downwind regions. On the dust belt from dust source regions to downwind regions, the dust top height (TH) was getting higher and higher. The dust TH varied in the range of 1.9–3.1 km above surface elevation (a.s.e.), with high values over the dust source regions and low values in the downwind areas, and a seasonally descending sequence of summer, spring, autumn and winter in accord with the seasonal variation of the boundary layer height. The annual AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) was generally characterized by two high and two low AOD centers over East Asia. The percent contribution of the Dust Aerosol Optical Depth to the total AOD showed a seasonal variation from high to low as follows: spring, winter, autumn and summer. The vertical profile of the extinction coefficient revealed the predominance of pure dust particles in the dust source regions and a mixture of dust particles and pollutants in the downwind regions. The dust extinction coefficients over the Taklimakan Desert had a seasonal pattern from high to low as follows: spring, winter, summer and autumn. The results of the present study offered an understanding of the horizontal and vertical structures of dust aerosols over East Asia and can be used to evaluate the performance aerosol transport models.

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Emission, transport and radiative effects of mineral dust from Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts: comparison of measurements and model results

10.5194/acp-2016-531 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Siyu Chen ◽

Jianping Huang ◽

Litai Kang ◽

Hao Wang ◽

Xiaojun Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Dust Emission ◽

Dust Concentration ◽

Dust Particles ◽

Storm Event ◽

Gobi Desert ◽

Radiative Effects ◽

Climate Effect ◽

Dust Aerosols ◽

Westerly Jets

Abstract. The weather research and forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) was used to investigate a typical dust storm event that occurred from 18th to 23rd March 2010 and swept across almost all of China, Japan, and Korea. WRF-Chem captured the spatial and temporal variations in dust aerosols and the meteorological conditions over East Asia well, and the results were used to further investigate details of processes related to dust emission, long-range transport, and radiative effects of dust aerosols over the Taklimakan desert (TD) and Gobi desert (GD). Results showed that the differences of weather conditions and topography and surface types in dust source regions may lead to the differences of dust emission, uplift height and transport. The typical dust event over East Asia was classified into two main stages. In the first stage (18th–20th March), the GD was located in the warm zone in advance of a cold front. The enhanced convection increased momentum transfer in the middle and lower troposphere because of the instability in the atmosphere. Moreover, the GD is located in relatively flat, high altitude regions influenced by the confluence of the northern and southern westerly jets. Therefore, the GD dust transport was the primary contributor to the dust concentration over East Asia. The strength of the dust emission decreased greatly during the second stage (21st–23rd March). The TD dust emission contributed to the dust concentration over East Asia. Cold air was lifted over the Pamir Plateau and intruded into the Tarim basin causing a strong uplifting motion. The average TD dust emission flux was 27.2 ± 4.1 μg m−2 s−1. However, the transport contribution of the TD dust (1.1 ton day−1) to the dust sink was smaller than that of the GD dust (1.4 ton day−1) because of the complex terrain and the prevailing wind in the TD. It is noted that the TD is not the main source region in China but a small amount of the TD dust was lofted to more than 5 km and transported over greater distances under the influence of the westerly jets. Moreover, the radiative forcing induced by dust particles is estimated as −3 W m−2 and −7 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere, −8 W m−2 and −10 W m−2 at the surface, and +5 W m−2 and +3 W m−2 in the atmosphere over the TD and GD, respectively. The study provided confidence for further understanding the climate effect of the TD and GD dust.

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