Dynamic and synoptic study of spring dust storms over northern Saudi Arabia

Mashat, Abdulfattah S.; Awad, Adel; Assiri, Mazen E.; Labban, Abdulhaleem H.

doi:10.1007/s00704-020-03095-6

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Climatically, the country has fairly wet autumn, winter and early spring seasons, and hot and dry late spring and summer seasons. Shamal winds lead to the increase of dust events during spring (Mashat et al, 2020) and summer (Notaro et al, 2013(Notaro et al, , 2015Yu et al, 2013Yu et al, , 2015Yu et al, , 2016. Consequently, abundant aerosols were loaded during the spring and summer seasons over the KAUST Campus and Solar Village sites compared to the other seasons (Figure 1).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For example, low values of FMF vs. AE indicate coarse mode dust aerosol (Aloysius et al, 2009); and high values of FMF (> 0.6) and intermediate values of AAE (1.0 < AAE < 2.00) indicate BC aerosols (Giles et al, 2011). Similarly, values of SSA (SSA ≤ 0.95) and high values of FMF also indicate BC aerosols (Lee et al, 2010;Giles et al, 2012 to frequent dust storms (Awad and Mashat, 2014;Almazroui et al, 2015;Awad et al, 2015;Kumar et al, 2018;Ali and Assiri, 2019;Mashat et al, 2019Mashat et al, , 2020. However, the booming oil, and gas industry generating unprecedented economic growth, have stimulated, rapid urbanization and industrial Farahmandkia et al (2010) in Tehran.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Classification of aerosols over Saudi Arabia from 2004–2016

Ali

Nichol

Bilal

et al. 2020

Atmospheric Environment

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Knowledge of aerosol size and composition is very important for investigating the radiative forcing impacts of aerosols, distinguishing aerosol sources, and identifying harmful particulate types in air quality monitoring. The ability to identify aerosol type synoptically would greatly contribute to the knowledge of aerosol type distribution at both regional and global scales, especially where there are no data on chemical composition. In this study, aerosol classification techniques were based on aerosol optical properties from remotely-observed data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) over Saudi Arabia for the period 2004−2016 and validated using data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). For this purpose, the OMI-based Aerosol Absorption Optical Depth (AAOD) and Ultra-Violet Aerosol Index (UVAI), and AERONET-based AAOD, Ångström Exponent (AE), Absorption Ångström Exponent (AAE), Fine Mode Fraction (FMF), and Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) were obtained. Spatial analysis of the satellite-based OMI-AAOD showed the dominance of absorbing aerosols over the study area, but with high seasonal variability. The study found significant underestimation by OMI AAOD suggesting that the OMAERUV product may need improvement over bright desert surfaces such as the study area. Aerosols were classified into (i) Dust, (ii) Black Carbon (BC), and (iii) Mixed (BC and Dust) based on the relationships technique, between the aerosol absorption properties (AAE, SSA, and UVAI)and size parameters (AE and FMF). Additionally, several of the parameter relationships misclassified the aerosol types over the study area, and only the FMF vs. AAE relationship was found to be robust. As expected, the dust aerosol type was dominant both annually and seasonally due to frequent dust storm events. Also, fine particulates such as BC and Mixed (BC and Dust) were observed, likely due to industrial activities (cement, petrochemical, fertilizer), water desalination plants, and electric energy generation. This is the first study to classify aerosol types over Saudi Arabia using several different aerosol property relationships, as well as over more than one site, and using data over a much longer time period than previous studies. aerosol relationship techniques such as FMF vs. UVAI etc. This enables classification and recognition of specific aerosol types over the Arabian Peninsula and similar desert regions.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classification of aerosols over Saudi Arabia from 2004–2016

Ali

Nichol

Bilal

et al. 2020

Atmospheric Environment

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“…Since global warming has been found to cause a decrease in dust storm emissions in some parts of the World, including the north African desert, it is argued that an effect on TE is possible through a subsequent induced change in the radiative energy balance. In a dynamic and synoptic study of dust storms over Saudi Arabia, Mashat et al [34] have investigated the atmospheric energetics conditions during the evolution of dust storms over this area; their study has revealed important localized energy imports, exports and conversions during the evolution of dust events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Analysis of Atmospheric Energetics Components over the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa

Michaelides

2020

Atmosphere

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In this research, one aspect of the climate that is not commonly referred to, namely, the long-term changes in the components of the atmospheric energy, is investigated. In this respect, the changes in four energy forms are considered, namely, Kinetic Energy (KE), Thermal Energy (TE), Internal Energy (IE), Potential Energy (PE) and Latent Energy (LE); the Energy Conversion (EC) between Kinetic Energy and Potential plus Internal Energy (PIE) is also considered. The area considered in this long-term energetics analysis covers the entire Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and a large part of North Africa. This broad geographical area has been identified by many researchers as a hot spot of climate change. Analyses of climatic data have indeed shown that this region has been experiencing marked changes regarding several climatic variables. The present energetics analysis makes use of the ERA-Interim database for the period from 1979 to 2018. In this 40-year period, the long-term changes in the above energetics components are studied. The monthly means of daily means for all the above energy forms and Energy Conversion comprise the basis for the present research. The results are presented in the form of monthly means, annual means and spatial distributions of the energetics components. They show the dominant role of the subtropical jet-stream in the KE regime. During the study period, the tendency is for KE to decrease with time, with this decrease found to be more coherent in the last decade. The tendency for TE is to increase with time, with this increase being more pronounced in the most recent years, with the maximum in the annual mean in KE noted in 2015. The sum of Potential and Internal energies (PIE) and the sum of Potential, Internal and Latent energies (PILE) follow closely the patterns established for TE. In particular, the strong seasonal influence on the monthly means is evident with minima of PIE and PILE noted in winters, whereas, maxima are registered during summers. In addition, both PIE and PILE exhibit a tendency to increase with time in the 40-year period, with this increase being more firmly noted in the more recent years. Although local conversion from KE into PIE is notable, the area averaging of EC shows that the overall conversion is in the direction of increasing the PIE content of the area at the expense of the KE content. EC behaves rather erratically during the study period, with values ranging from 0.5 to 3.7 × 102 W m−2. Averaged over the study area, the Energy Conversion term operates in the direction of converting KE into PIE; it also lacks a seasonal behavior.

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“…(2020) [16] investigated the dynamic and synoptic situations of spring dust storms over northern Saudi Arabia. They analyzed both frontal systems and shamal systems and found that during the development of the dust event pressure and temperature gradient were increasing over the northern Arabian Peninsula and the maximum wind shifted eastwards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synoptic Situation of 28-31 October 2017 Severe Dust Storm over Iraq

Majeed¹,

Qasim²

2021

MJS

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The phenomenon of dust storms occurs in areas that are characterized by drought, and lack of rainfalls. There are many such areas around the world, including the Middle East in general and large parts of Iraq in particular. In the last week of October 2017, a severe dust storm occurred over Iraq and lasted for four days, the aim of this work was to investigate the synoptic situation of this severe storm using remote sensing data. Data include daily true-color images, Aerosols Index (AI), surface weather maps, and 850 Mb weather maps. These data were analyzed for the four days of the storm (28-31 Oct 2017). The results showed that the storm was triggered on the 28th of October over the northwestern part of Iraq. The weather maps revealed that the cause, development, and transport of this storm were caused by a low-pressure system. This system was developed just over the source area of dust on the first day of the storm, and two ridges in which one has existed over the north of Iran and the second advanced from Egypt during the second day of the storm. The pattern of the trough and two ridges on the second and third day caused the storm to halt over central and southwestern areas of Iraq and the northern border of Saudi Arabia with Iraq. On the fourth day, the storm was moved by the northwesterly wind towards the south of Iraq and Kuwait.

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Dynamic and synoptic study of spring dust storms over northern Saudi Arabia

Cited by 19 publications

References 56 publications

Classification of aerosols over Saudi Arabia from 2004–2016

Classification of aerosols over Saudi Arabia from 2004–2016

Long-Term Analysis of Atmospheric Energetics Components over the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa

Synoptic Situation of 28-31 October 2017 Severe Dust Storm over Iraq

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