Upper troposphere dust belt formation processes vary seasonally and spatially in the Northern Hemisphere Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractDust aerosols impact global energy balance substantially by acting as efficient ice nuclei to alter cold cloud properties. However, the estimate of dust indirect effect remains uncertain due to simulating dust distributions poorly and lacking reliable dust observations, especially in the upper-troposphere. Here, we characterize and understand upper-troposphere dust sources and transport with an improved dust dataset derived from A-train satellite lidar and radar measurements and an air parcel trajectory model. The distinct upper-troposphere dust belt over the northern hemisphere has seasonally varying base and top heights of 3.652.84 and 8.351.50km above mean sea level and its column loading is strongest during spring (March-April-May). The out-of-phase annual cycles of mid-level dust concentration and westerly wind over source regions control the seasonal upper-tropospheric dust loading variations. African deserts contribute the most (46.3%) to the upper-troposphere dust belt in spring and the synoptic trough is the leading (49%) dust lifting mechanism.

published proceedings

  • COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT

altmetric score

  • 2.6

author list (cited authors)

  • Yang, K., Wang, Z., Luo, T., Liu, X., & Wu, M.

citation count

  • 11

complete list of authors

  • Yang, Kang||Wang, Zhien||Luo, Tao||Liu, Xiaohong||Wu, Mingxuan

publication date

  • February 2022