Air pollution from duststorms in the great plains

Hagen, L. J.; Woodruff, N. P.

doi:10.1016/0004-6981(73)90081-4

Cited by 82 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Dust aerosols profoundly affect climate (Haywood and Boucher, 2000;Hsu et al, 2004;Kumar et al, 2014), cloud properties (Twomey et al, 1984;Wang et al, 2010;Huang et al, 2006), visibility (Kavouras et al, 2009;Moosmüller et al, 2005), air quality (Hagen and Woodruff, 1973), atmospheric chemistry and mineralogy (Sokolik and Toon, 1999;Kandler et al, 2007), biogeochemical cycles in the ocean and over land (Jickells et al, 2005;Mahowald, 2009), human health (Bennett et al, 2006;Bennion et al, 2007;De Longueville et al, 2010;Menéndez et al, 2017), and agriculture (Fryrear, 1981;Nihlen and Lund, 1995).…”

Section: Importance Of Mineral Dustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical and chemical properties of deposited airborne particulates over the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Mineral dust is the most abundant aerosol, having a profound impact on the global energy budget. This research continues our previous studies performed on surface soils in the Arabian Peninsula, focusing on the mineralogical, physical and chemical composition of dust deposits from the atmosphere at the Arabian Red Sea coast. For this purpose, aerosols deposited from the atmosphere are collected during 2015 at six sites on the campus of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) situated on the Red Sea coastal plain of Saudi Arabia and subjected to the same chemical and mineralogical analysis we conducted on soil samples. Frisbee deposition samplers with foam inserts were used to collect dust and other deposits, for the period December 2014 to December 2015. The average deposition rate measured at KAUST for this period was 14 g m −2 per month, with lowest values in winter and increased deposition rates in August to October. The particle size distributions provide assessments of < 10 and < 2.5 µm dust deposition rates, and it is suggested that these represent proxies for PM 10 (coarse) and PM 2.5 (fine) particle size fractions in the dust deposits.X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of a subset of samples confirms variable amounts of quartz, feldspars, micas, and halite, with lesser amounts of gypsum, calcite, dolomite, hematite, and amphibole. Freeze-dried samples were resuspended onto the Teflon ® filters for elemental analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), while splits from each sample were analyzed for water-soluble cations and anions by ion chromatography. The dust deposits along the Red Sea coast are considered to be a mixture of dust emissions from local soils and soils imported from distal dust sources. Airborne mineral concentrations are greatest at or close to dust sources, compared to those through medium-and long-range transport. It is not possible to identify the exact origin of deposition samples from the mineralogical and chemical results alone. These aerosol data are the first of their kind from the Red Sea region. They will help assess their potential nutrient input into the Red Sea, as well the impact on human health, industry, and solar panel efficiency. These data will also support dust modeling in this important dust belt source area by better quantifying dust mass balance and optical properties of airborne dust particles.

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Section: Importance Of Mineral Dustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical and chemical properties of deposited airborne particulates over the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain

et al. 2017

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“…Such large quantities of dust cause severe air pollution, reduced visibility, airport shutdowns, and increased traffic and aircraft accidents (Morales, 1979;Hagen and Woodruff, 1973;Middleton and Chaudhary, 1988;Dayan et al, 1991;Chung and Yoon, 1996). Other environmental impacts of dust include reduced soil fertility and crop damage, reduced solar radiation on the surface and as a consequence decreased efficiency of solar devices, damaged telecommunications and mechanical systems, increased occurrence of respiratory diseases, and other impacts on human health (Hagen and Woodruff, 1973;Mitchell, 1971;Fryrear, 1981;Squires, 2007;Jauregui, 1989;Liu and Ou, 1990;Chung and Yoon, 1996;Nihlen and Lund, 1995;Longstreth et al, 1995;Bennett et al, 2006;Bennion et al, 2007). Dust deposition to oceans, however, provides nutrients to ocean surface waters and the seabed (Talbot et al, 1986;Swap et al, 1996 andZhu et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of dust storms on the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Located in the dust belt, the Arabian Peninsula is a major source of atmospheric dust. Frequent dust outbreaks and some 15 to 20 dust storms per year have profound effects on all aspects of human activity and natural processes in this region. To quantify the effect of severe dust events on radiation fluxes and regional climate characteristics, we simulated the storm that occurred from 18 to 20 March 2012 using a regional weather research forecast model fully coupled with the chemistry/aerosol module (WRF-Chem). This storm swept over a remarkably large area affecting the entire Middle East, northeastern Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It was caused by a southward propagating cold front, and the associated winds activated the dust production in river valleys of the lower Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq; the coastal areas in Kuwait, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates; the Rub al Khali, An Nafud, and Ad Dahna deserts; and along the Red Sea coast on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula. Our simulation results compare well with available ground-based and satellite observations. We estimate the total amount of dust generated by the storm to have reached 94 Mt. Approximately 78 % of this dust was deposited within the calculation domain. The Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf received 5.3 Mt and the Red Sea 1.2 Mt of dust. Dust particles bring nutrients to marine ecosystems, which is especially important for the oligotrophic Northern Red Sea. However, their contribution to the nutrient balance in the Red Sea remains largely unknown. By scaling the effect of one storm to the number of dust storms observed annually over the Red Sea, we estimate the annual dust deposition to the Red Sea, associated with major dust storms, to be 6 Mt.

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“…Figure 9 shows that the greatest percentage of precipitation occurred in the winter (46.29%), followed by summer (28.55%), spring (15.55%), and autumn (9.61%) Hagen and Woodruff [42] found that most areas of the Great Plains experienced a significant number of dust hours during low annual precipitation. Our results, which are shown in Figure 9, indicate a consistency regarding precipitation versus dust events.…”

Section: Relative Humidity and Precipitation During Dust Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Applying the lower visibility criterion for dust events to <1.6 km, reduces the number of dust event values compared to other higher values such as <11.2 km, <8 km, and <4.8 km, which is also supported by Nicking and Brazel [23] stating that the number of dust events at Yuma and Phoenix, Arizona increased by 290% and 140% if the visibility criterion was changed from <1.6 km to <11.3 km, respectively. Hagen and Woodruff [42] assumed dust was responsible for reducing the visibility on dusty days when the visibility ranged from 11.3 to 14.5 km and wind speed exceeded 5.4 m/s in the Great Plains. They also found that the average dust storm duration was 6.6 h in the Great Plains.…”

Section: Annual Number Of Dust Events Annual Mean Number Of Dust Evementioning

confidence: 99%

Dust Climatology of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) in Lancaster, California, USA

Pokharel

Kaplan

2017

Climate

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A 15-year (1997-2011) climatology of dust events at the NASA DFRC in Lancaster, California, USA, was performed to evaluate how the extratropical systems were associated with dust storms over this region. For this study, we collected meteorological data for Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) in Lancaster, California, which is very close to NASA DFRC, from wunderground.com, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), NCEP/Hydro-meteorological Prediction Center/National Weather Service (NWS), and Unisys analyses. We find that the dust events were associated with the development of a deep convective boundary layer, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) ≥3 J/kg, a deep unstable lapse rate layer, a wind speed above the frictional threshold wind speed necessary to ablate dust from the surface (≥7.3 m/s), a presence of a cold trough above the deep planetary boundary layer (PBL), a strong cyclonic jet, an influx of vertical sensible heat from the surrounding area, and a low volumetric soil moisture fraction <0.3. The annual mean number of dust events, their mean duration, and the unit duration per number of event for each visibility range, when binned as <11.2 km, <8 km, <4.8 km, <1.6 km, and <1 km were calculated. The visibility range values were positively correlated with the annual mean number of dust events, duration of dust events, and the ratio of duration of dust events. The percentage of the dust events by season shows that most of the dust events occurred in autumn (44.7%), followed by spring (38.3%), and equally in summer and winter with these seasons each accounting for 8.5% of events. This study also shows that the summer had the highest percentage (10%) of the lowest visibility condition (<1 km) followed by autumn (2%). Neither of the other two seasons-winter and spring-experienced such a low visibility condition during the entire dust events over 15 years. Winter had the highest visibility (<11.2 km) percentage, which was 67% followed by spring (55%). Wind speed increasing to a value within the range of 3.6-11 m/s was typically associated with the dust events.

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Air pollution from duststorms in the great plains

Cited by 82 publications

References 3 publications

Physical and chemical properties of deposited airborne particulates over the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain

Physical and chemical properties of deposited airborne particulates over the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain

The impact of dust storms on the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea

Dust Climatology of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) in Lancaster, California, USA

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