Integrative investigation of dust emissions by dust storms and dust devils in North Africa

Pan, Lin; Han, Yongxiang; Lu, Zhengqi; Li, Jiaxin; Gao, Fei; Liu, Zhaohuan; Liu, Weijia; Liu, Yangang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144128

Integrative investigation of dust emissions by dust storms and dust devils in North Africa

Journal Article · Thu Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Science of the Total Environment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144128· OSTI ID:1762764

Pan, Lin ^[1]; Han, Yongxiang ^[2]; Lu, Zhengqi ^[2]; Li, Jiaxin ^[2]; Gao, Fei ^[3]; Liu, Zhaohuan ^[2]; Liu, Weijia ^[4]; ^[5]

Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology (China). Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters; Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau (China)
Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology (China). Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters
Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology (China). Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters; Inner Mongolia Meteorological Service Center (China)
Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology (China). Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Dust aerosols in North Africa account for >50% of the global total; however dust emission areas are still unclear. Based on the analysis of dust storms simulated with the numerical Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, satellite aerosol index (AI), and the dust data observed at 300 meteorological stations over 20 years, the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of dust storm, dust devil and AI are compared and analyzed. From this study, the results show that: 1) There are two dust emission mechanisms: the dynamically-dominated dust storm and thermally-dominated dust devil; 2) Dust storms occur most frequently in Spring and are concentrated in the areas of Grand Erg Occidental Desert to the Erg Chech-Adrar Desert, the northern part of Grand Erg Oriental, the Atouila Desert to the Ouarane Desert, the Mediterranean coast, the eastern side of Nubian Desert and Bodélé Depression; 3) Dust devils occur most frequently from April to August and are mainly concentrated in the central part of North Africa, especially in the southwest of Hoggar Mountains to the west of Air Mountains, the border area of Egypt - Sudan - Libya and the vicinity of Tibesti Plateau; 4) The spatio-temporal distribution of AI is correlated more with the dust devils emission whereas the annual average contributions by dust storms and dust devils are 61.3% and 38.7%, respectively. This study discovers a new area of dust emissions by dust devils, and provides a better explanation for the spatio-temporal distribution of AI in North Africa.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1762764

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2478893

Report Number(s):: BNL--220886-2021-JAAM

Journal Information:: Science of the Total Environment, Journal Name: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 756; ISSN 0048-9697

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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