CUACE/Dust – an integrated system of observation and modeling systems for operational dust forecasting in Asia

Abstract

Abstract. An integrated sand and dust storm (SDS) forecasting system -CUACE/Dust (Chinese Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment for Dust) has been developed, which consists of a comprehensive dust aerosol module with emission, dry/wet depositions and other atmospheric dynamic processes, and a data assimilation system (DAS) using observational data from the CMA (China Meteorological Administration) ground dust monitoring network and retrieved dust information from a Chinese geostationary satellite -FY-2C. This is the first time that a combination of surface network observations and satellite retrievals of the dust aerosol has been successfully used in the real time operational forecasts in East Asia through a DAS. During its application for the operational SDS forecasts in East Asia for spring 2006, this system captured the major 31 SDS episodes observed by both surface and satellite observations. Analysis shows that the seasonal mean threat score (TS) for 0-24 h forecast over the East Asia in spring 2006 increased from 0.22 to 0.31 by using the DAS, a 41% enhancement. The time series of the forecasted dust concentrations for a number of representative stations for the whole spring 2006 were also evaluated against the surface PM 10 monitoring data, showing a very good agreement in terms of the SDS timing and magnitudes near source regions where dust aerosols dominate. This is a summary paper for a special issue of ACP featuring the development and results of the forecasting system.

Mesoscale modeling study of the interactions between aerosols and PBL meteorology during a haze episode in Jing–Jin–Ji (China) and its nearby surrounding region – Part 1: Aerosol distributions and meteorological features

“…According to the China Environmental Condition Report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of The People's Republic of China (MEPPRC), seven of the top ten polluted cities in China in the first 6 months of 2013 -Xingtai, Shijiazhuang, Handan, Baoding, Tangshan, Hengshui and Langfang -are located in this region. However, haze pollution and air quality studies in this region, especially modeling and simulation studies, are rare (Wang et al, 2008;Xing et al, 2011) and inadequate compared to the Yangtze River delta and Pearl River delta regions (Westerdahl, et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2009Zhang et al, , 2011Zhang et al, , 2013Quan et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014a).…”

“…Each physical process incorporates the use of several schemes . The model physics schemes and the related lead references used in this study are summa- Zhang (2008) rized and listed in Table 1. The PBL scheme is very important for correctly modeling and providing accurate weather forecasts (Vogelezang et al, 1996;Santanello et al, 2005), especially for accurate air pollution forecasts (Cheng et al, 2002;Pleim, 2007).…”

Winter and Summer PM2.5 Chemical Compositions in Fourteen Chinese Cities

“…The sampling periods did not include the April/May Asian dust storms (Gong and Zhang, 2008;Li et al, 2008) that are causes of high PM 2.5 during these periods. The other elements do not show major or consistent differences between winter and summer, except that the summertime averages are generally lower.…”

Validation of an hourly resolved global aerosol model in answer to solar electricity generation information needs

“…Validation efforts on the daily and hourly scale are typically restricted to case studies (e.g., Morcrette et al, 2009;Santese et al, 2010;Spyrou et al, 2010) or analyse a few stations only which often have an extended instrumentation giving detailed insight into a specific physical process (e.g., Hand et al, 2004;Gong and Zhang, 2008;Heinold et al, 2009;Su et al, 2009).…”