scholarly journals On the role of dust storms in triggering atmospheric gravity waves observed in the middle atmosphere

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1647-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Das ◽  
A. Taori ◽  
A. Jayaraman
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Atmospheric Perturbations ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity

Abstract. Lower atmospheric perturbations often produce measurable effects in the middle and upper atmosphere. The present study demonstrates the response of the middle atmospheric thermal structure to the significant enhancement of the lower atmospheric heating effect caused by dust storms observed over the Thar Desert, India. Our study from multi-satellite observations of two dust storm events that occurred on 3 and 8 May 2007 suggests that dust storm events produce substantial changes in the lower atmospheric temperatures as hot spots which can become sources for gravity waves observed in the middle atmosphere.

Trajectories of Major Martian Dust Storms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiqun (Helen) Wang ◽  
Mark Richardson ◽  
Anthony Toigo
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Great Variability ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
The Past ◽  
Annual Variability

<p>      Major dust storms – including large regional and global dust storms – dramatically influence atmospheric optical depth, thermal structure, and circulation. They represent probably the most significant inter-annual variability in the Martian lower / middle atmosphere and are of particular concern for spacecraft missions. Great variability is exhibited not only in their timing and magnitudes, but also in histories of their evolution. Mars Daily Global Maps (MDGMs) over the past Mars decade have shown that all major dust storms develop through a combination of dust storm sequences evolving along one or more trajectories, where each dust storm sequence is composed of multiple dust storm members of various sizes and durations along a trajectory. In this presentation, we will illustrate the trajectories of major dust storms observed in MDGMs and examine their relationship with the general circulation.</p>

Impact of atmospheric gravity waves on the Martian global water cycle during dust storms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shaposhnikov ◽  
Alexander Medvedev ◽  
Alexander Rodin ◽  
Paul Hartogh
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity Waves ◽  
Global Water Cycle ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity ◽  
Global Water

<p>Effects of atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) on the global water cycle in the middle and high atmosphere of Mars during the global dust storms (Martian years 28 and 34) have been studied for the first time using a general circulation model. Dust storm simulations were compared with those utilizing the climatological distribution of dust in the absence of a GW parameterization. The dust storm scenarios are based on the observations of the dust optical depth by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The simulations show that accounting for the influence of GWs leads to a change in the concentration of water vapor in the thermosphere. The most significant effect of GWs is twofold. First, cooling of the thermosphere at the poles leads to a decrease in the water vapor abundance during certain periods. Second, heating in the regions representing the main channels of water supply to the upper atmosphere (the so-called water "pump" mechanism) increases, on the contrary, its concentration. Since the temperature increase provides more intensive atmospheric mixing, and also expands the supply channel through an increase in saturation pressure. The dynamic balance of these basic mechanisms drives the changes in the distribution of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. Dust storms enhance pumping of water vapor into the upper atmosphere. Seasonal differences in the storm occurrences in different years allow for tracking the paths of water vapor transport to the upper atmosphere.</p>

scholarly journals An Observational Overview of Dusty Deep Convection in Martian Dust Storms

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (11) ◽  
pp. 3299-3326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas G. Heavens ◽  
David M. Kass ◽  
James H. Shirley ◽  
Sylvain Piqueux ◽  
Bruce A. Cantor
Keyword(s):  
Dust Storm ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
Mesoscale Circulations ◽  
Convective Structures

Abstract Deep convection, as used in meteorology, refers to the rapid ascent of air parcels in Earth’s troposphere driven by the buoyancy generated by phase change in water. Deep convection undergirds some of Earth’s most important and violent weather phenomena and is responsible for many aspects of the observed distribution of energy, momentum, and constituents (particularly water) in Earth’s atmosphere. Deep convection driven by buoyancy generated by the radiative heating of atmospheric dust may be similarly important in the atmosphere of Mars but lacks a systematic description. Here we propose a comprehensive framework for this phenomenon of dusty deep convection (DDC) that is supported by energetic calculations and observations of the vertical dust distribution and exemplary dusty deep convective structures within local, regional, and global dust storm activity. In this framework, DDC is distinct from a spectrum of weaker dusty convective activity because DDC originates from preexisting or concurrently forming mesoscale circulations that generate high surface dust fluxes, oppose large-scale horizontal advective–diffusive processes, and are thus able to maintain higher dust concentrations than typically simulated. DDC takes two distinctive forms. Mesoscale circulations that form near Mars’s highest volcanoes in dust storms of all scales can transport dust to the base of the upper atmosphere in as little as 2 h. In the second distinctive form, mesoscale circulations at low elevations within regional and global dust storm activity generate freely convecting streamers of dust that are sheared into the middle atmosphere over the diurnal cycle.

Water vapor vertical profiles on Mars: Results from the first full Mars Year of TGO/NOMAD science operations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shohei Aoki ◽  
AnnCarine Vandaele ◽  
Frank Daerden ◽  
Geronimo Villanueva ◽  
Ian Thomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
High Spectral Resolution ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Geophysical Research ◽  
Solar Occultation ◽  
Science Operations

<p>Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) onboard ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) started the science measurements on 21 April, 2018. We present results on the retrievals of water vapor vertical profiles in the Martian atmosphere from the first Mars year measurements of the TGO/NOMAD.</p><p>NOMAD is a spectrometer operating in the spectral ranges between 0.2 and 4.3 μm onboard ExoMars TGO. NOMAD has 3 spectral channels: a solar occultation channel (SO – Solar Occultation; 2.3–4.3 μm), a second infrared channel capable of nadir, solar occultation, and limb sounding (LNO – Limb Nadir and solar Occultation; 2.3–3.8 μm), and an ultraviolet/visible channel (UVIS – Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer, 200–650 nm). The infrared channels (SO and LNO) have high spectral resolution (λ/dλ~10,000–20,000) provided by an echelle grating used in combination with an Acousto Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) which selects diffraction orders. The concept of the infrared channels are derived from the Solar Occultation in the IR (SOIR) instrument onboard Venus Express (VEx). The sampling rate for the solar occultation measurement is 1 second, which provides better vertical sampling step (~1 km) with higher resolution (~2 km) from the surface to 200 km. Thanks to the instantaneous change of the observing diffraction orders achieved by the AOTF, the SO channel is able to measure five or six different diffraction orders per second in solar occultation mode. In this study, we analyze the solar occultation measurements at diffraction order 134 (3011-3035 cm<sup>-1</sup>), order 136 (3056-3080 cm<sup>-1</sup>) and 168 (3775-3805 cm<sup>-1</sup>) acquired by the SO channel in order to investigate H<sub>2</sub>O vertical profiles.</p><p>Knowledge of the water vapor vertical distribution is important to understand the water cycle and escape processes. Solar occultation measurements by the two spectrometers onboard TGO - NOMAD and Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) - allow us to monitor daily the water vapor vertical profiles through one whole Martian Year and obtain a latitudinal map for every ~20° of Ls. In 2018, for the first time after 2007, a global dust storm occurred on Mars. It lasted for more than two months (from June to August). Moreover, following the global dust storm, a regional dust storm occurred in January 2019. TGO began its science operations on 21 April 2018. NOMAD observations therefore fully cover the period before/during/after the global and regional dust storms and offer a unique opportunity to study the trace gases distributions during such events. We have analyzed those datasets and found a significant increase of water vapor abundance in the middle atmosphere (40-100 km) during the global dust storm from June to mid-September 2018 and the regional dust storm in January 2019. In particular, water vapor reaches very high altitudes, at least 100 km, during the global dust storm (Aoki et al., 2019, Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume124, Issue12, Pages 3482-3497, doi:10.1029/2019JE006109). A GCM simulation explained that dust storm related increases of atmospheric temperatures suppress the hygropause, hence reducing ice cloud formation and so allowing water vapor to extend into the middle atmosphere (Neary et al., 2020, Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL084354., doi: 10.1029/2019GL084354). The current study presents the results obtained when considering the extended dataset, which covers a full Martian year. The extended dataset includes the recent aphelion season that involves interesting phenomena such as sublimation of water vapor from the northern polar cap and formation of the equatorial cloud belt, and is known as a key period to understand the large north-south hemispheric asymmetries of Mars water vapor. Yet, until now, only few papers reported the water vapor vertical distribution during the aphelion season. The extended dataset also includes the period when the global dust storm occurred the year before; this will allow us to compare the water vapor distributions under global dust storm conditions with those found during non-global dust storm years. In the presentation, we will discuss the H<sub>2</sub>O vertical profiles as well as the aerosols vertical distribution retrieved from the first full Martian year measurements of the TGO/NOMAD.</p><!-- COMO-HTML-CONTENT-END --> <p class="co_mto_htmlabstract-citationHeader"> <strong class="co_mto_htmlabstract-citationHeader-intro">How to cite:</strong> Aoki, S., Vandaele, A., Daerden, F., Villanueva, G., Thomas, I., Erwin, J., Trompet, L., Robert, S., Neary, L., Viscardy, S., Piccialli, A., Liuzzi, G., Crismani, M., Clancy, T., Smith, M., Ristic, B., Lopez-Valverde, M.-A., Patel, M., Bellucci, G., and Lopez-Moreno, J.-J.: Water vapor vertical profiles on Mars: Results from the first full Mars Year of TGO/NOMAD science operations, Europlanet Science Congress 2020, online, 21 September–9 Oct 2020, EPSC2020-392, 2020 </p>

scholarly journals Simultaneous lidar observations of temperatures and waves in the polar middle atmosphere on both sides of the Scandinavian mountains: a case study on 19/20 January 2003

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 969-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Blum ◽  
K. H. Fricke ◽  
G. Baumgarten ◽  
A. Schöch
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Temperature Structure ◽  
Vertical Wavelength ◽  
Mountain Ridge ◽  
Induced Gravity ◽  
Simultaneous Measurements ◽  
Wave Patterns ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity

Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves have been the subject of intense research for several decades because of their extensive effects on the atmospheric circulation and the temperature structure. The U. Bonn lidar at the Esrange and the ALOMAR RMR lidar at the Andøya Rocket Range are located in northern Scandinavia 250 km apart on either side of the Scandinavian mountain ridge. During January and February 2003 both lidar systems conducted measurements and retrieved atmospheric temperatures. On 19/20 January 2003 simultaneous measurements for more than 7 h were possible. Although during most of the campaign time the atmosphere was not transparent for the propagation of orographically induced gravity waves, they could propagate and were observed at both lidar stations during these simultaneous measurements. The wave patterns at ALOMAR show a random distribution with time whereas at the Esrange a persistency in the wave patterns is observable. This persistency can also be found in the distribution of the most powerful vertical wavelengths. The mode values are both at about 5 km vertical wavelength, however the distributions are quite different, narrow at the Esrange containing values from λz=2–6 km and broad at ALOMAR, covering λz=1–12 km vertical wavelength. At both stations the waves deposit energy in the atmosphere with increasing altitude, which leads to a decrease of the observed gravity wave potential energy density with altitude. These measurements show unambigiously orographically induced gravity waves on both sides of the mountains as well as a clear difference of the characteristics of these waves, which might be caused by different excitation and propagation conditions on either side of the Scandinavian mountain ridge.

scholarly journals Characteristics of dust storm events over the western United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 14195-14220 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
J. X. L. Wang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Cold Fronts ◽  
Deep Blue ◽  
Modis Aod

Abstract. In order to better understand the characteristics of dust storm processes over the western United States, available dust storm events reported by media or recorded by NASA earth observatory are classified into four types based on the prevailing weather systems. Then these four types of dust storm events related to cold fronts, downbursts, tropical disturbances, and cyclogenesis and their selected typical representative events are examined to explore their identifiable characteristics based on in-situ and remote sensing measurements. We find that the key feature of cold front-induced dust storms is their rapid process with strong dust emissions. Events caused by rapid downbursts have the highest rates of emissions. Dust storms due to tropical disturbances show stronger air concentrations of dust and last longer than those caused by cold fronts and downbursts. Finally, dust storms caused by cyclogenesis last the longest. The analysis of particulate matter records also shows that the relative ratio of PM10 (size less than 10 μm) values on dust storm-days to non-dust storm-days is a better indicator of event identification compared to previous established indicators. Moreover, aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from both in-situ and satellite datasets allow us to capture dust storm processes. We show that MODIS AOD retrieved from the deep blue data better identify dust storm-affected areas and the spatial extension of event intensity. Our analyses also show that the variability in mass concentrations during dust storm processes captured only by in-situ observations is consistent with the variability in AOD from stationary or satellite observations. The study finally indicates that the combination of in-situ and satellite observations is a better method to fill gaps in dust storm recordings.

scholarly journals Tasman Sea biological response to dust storm events during the austral spring of 2009

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Gabric ◽  
R. Cropp ◽  
G. McTainsh ◽  
H. Butler ◽  
B. M. Johnston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dust Storm ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Iron Bioavailability ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Tasman Sea

During the austral spring of 2009 several significant dust storms occurred in south-east Australia including the so-called ‘Red Dawn’ event in late September. Estimates of 2.5 Mt total suspended particulate sediment lost off the Australian coast in the 3000km long dust plume make it the largest off-continent loss of soil ever reported. Much of this material was transported over the coastline of New South Wales and into the adjacent Tasman Sea. Long-term model simulations of dust deposition over the south-west Tasman Sea suggest the amount deposited during the spring of 2009 was approximately three times the long-term monthly average. Previous satellite-based analyses of the biological response of Tasman Sea waters to dust-derived nutrients are equivocal or have observed no response. Satellite-derived surface chlorophyll concentrations in the southern Tasman during the spring of 2009 are well above the climatological mean, with positive anomalies as high as 0.5mgm–3. Dust transport simulations indicate strong deposition to the ocean surface, which during both the ‘Red Dawn’ event and mid-October 2009 dust storm events was enhanced by heavy precipitation. Cloud processing of the dust aerosol may have enhanced iron bioavailability for phytoplankton uptake.

scholarly journals Further study on the role of atmospheric gravity waves on the seismo-ionospheric perturbations as detected by subionospheric VLF/LF propagation

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1111-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Muto ◽  
Y. Kasahara ◽  
Y. Hobara ◽  
M. Hayakawa ◽  
A. Rozhnoi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Previous Analysis ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Tidal Effect ◽  
Propagation Characteristics ◽  
Average Amplitude ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity Waves ◽  
Ionospheric Perturbations ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity

Abstract. As the target earthquake we have taken a huge earthquake (EQ) named Miyagi-oki earthquake on 16 August 2005 (with magnitude of 7.2) and we have analyzed the 4 month period including the date of this EQ. In addition to our previous analysis on the nighttime average amplitude (trend) and nighttime fluctuation, we have proposed the use of fluctuation power spectra in the frequency rage of atmospheric gravity waves (period=10 min to 100 min) as a third parameter of subionospheric VLF/LF propagation characteristics. Then it is found that this third parameter would be of additional importance in confirming the presence of seismo-ionospheric perturbations. Finally, we have discovered an important role of lunar tidal effect in the VLF/LF data, which appears one and two months before this large EQ.

scholarly journals Synoptic Causes and Socio-Economic Consequences of a Severe Dust Storm in the Middle East

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1435
Author(s):  
Nick Middleton ◽  
Saviz Sehat Kashani ◽  
Sara Attarchi ◽  
Mehdi Rahnama ◽  
Sahar Tajbakhsh Mosalman
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Media Reports

Dust storms represent one of the most severe, if underrated, natural hazards in drylands. This study uses ground observational data from meteorological stations and airports (SYNOP and METARs), satellite observations (MODIS level-3 gridded atmosphere daily products and CALIPSO) and reanalysis data (ERA5) to analyze the synoptic meteorology of a severe Middle Eastern dust storm in April 2015. Details of related socio-economic impacts, gathered largely from news media reports, are also documented. This dust storm affected at least 14 countries in an area of 10 million km2. The considerable impacts were felt across eight countries in health, transport, education, construction, leisure and energy production. Hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE experienced a surge in cases of respiratory complaints and ophthalmic emergencies, as well as vehicular trauma due to an increase in motor vehicle accidents. Airports in seven countries had to delay, divert and cancel flights during the dust storm. This paper is the first attempt to catalogue such dust storm impacts on multiple socio-economic sectors in multiple countries in any part of the world. This type of transboundary study of individual dust storm events is necessary to improve our understanding of their multiple impacts and so inform policymakers working on this emerging disaster risk management issue.

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