Particulate Matter Concentration and Air Quality Affected by Windblown Dust in the Columbia Plateau

Sharratt, Brenton; Lauer, D. A.

doi:10.2134/jeq2006.0212

Cited by 64 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…This will be accomplished through an analysis of available climatological and meteorological data to identify what conditions were associated with dust emission events. Studying the weather systems, magnitude and direction of wind, the conditions of visibility, and the level of PM 10 in ambient air reveal the onset, evolution and termination of dust events [36], and the commensurate degradation of air quality [34,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Pokharel

Kaplan

2017

Climate

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“…Atmospheric dust has been observed across continents and oceans, giving rise to its importance in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Huebert et al, 2003;Mahowald et al, 2009;IPCC, 2013;Kok et al, 2017). Mineral aerosols can influence air quality by reducing visibility and bolstering concentrations of inhalable particulate matter (Sharratt and Lauer, 2006;Huneeus et al, 2011;Goudie, 2014). In dust source regions, atmospheric dust concentrations can approach 1-10 mg m −3 , while dust particles can be uplifted to altitudes of 2-10 km under strong wind shear stress (McTainsh and Strong, 2007;Cottle et al, 2013a;Shao et al, 2013;Goudie, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

East Asian dust storm in May 2017: observations, modelling, and its influence on the Asia-Pacific region

et al. 2018

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Abstract. A severe dust storm event originated from the Gobi Desert in Central and East Asia during 2–7 May 2017. Based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite products, hourly environmental monitoring measurements from Chinese cities and East Asian meteorological observation stations, and numerical simulations, we analysed the spatial and temporal characteristics of this dust event as well as its associated impact on the Asia-Pacific region. The maximum observed hourly PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 µm) concentration was above 1000 µg m−3 in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, and Langfang and above 2000 µg m−3 in Erdos, Hohhot, Baotou, and Alxa in northern China. This dust event affected over 8.35 million km2, or 87 % of the Chinese mainland, and significantly deteriorated air quality in 316 cities of the 367 cities examined across China. The maximum surface wind speed during the dust storm was 23–24 m s−1 in the Mongolian Gobi Desert and 20–22 m s−1 in central Inner Mongolia, indicating the potential source regions of this dust event. Lidar-derived vertical dust profiles in Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo indicated dust aerosols were uplifted to an altitude of 1.5–3.5 km, whereas simulations by the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model indicated 20.4 and 5.3 Tg of aeolian dust being deposited respectively across continental Asia and the North Pacific Ocean. According to forward trajectory analysis by the FLEXible PARTicle dispersion (FLEXPART) model, the East Asian dust plume moved across the North Pacific within a week. Dust concentrations decreased from the East Asian continent across the Pacific Ocean from a magnitude of 103 to 10−5 µg m−3, while dust deposition intensity ranged from 104 to 10−1 mg m−2. This dust event was unusual due to its impact on continental China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and the North Pacific Ocean. Asian dust storms such as those observed in early May 2017 may lead to wider climate forcing on a global scale.

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“…In fact, PM10 emitted from agricultural land has been a major contributor to poor air quality within the Columbia Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest (Sharratt and Lauer [1]) where the 24-h PM10 standard (150µg/m3) is exceeded on average twice annually ( fig. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fugitive dust from agricultural land affecting air quality within the Columbia Plateau, USA

Sharratt¹

2008

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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Windblown dust originating from agricultural land has contributed to poor air quality within the Columbia Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest United States. In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) national ambient air quality standard for PM10 (particulates ≤10 µm in diameter) is exceeded each year in the Columbia Plateau due to fugitive dust emitted from agricultural land. Winter wheat -summer fallow is the conventional crop rotation employed on >1.5 million ha within the region. During the 13-month summer fallow period, multiple tillage operations are performed to conserve soil water and control weeds; these tillage operations also create erosive soil conditions due to burial of crop residue and degradation of soil aggregates. Instrumentation was installed to measure sediment flux and PM10 concentration at the windward and leeward positions in fields maintained in summer fallow. Soil loss resulting from singular high wind events ranged from 0 to 2317 kg/ha over a four-year observation period. The corresponding loss of PM10 during these high wind events ranged from 0 to 212 kg/ha. For those events with measurable soil loss, PM10 comprised 5 to 12% of the total soil loss. Although loss of PM10 during high wind events is relatively small compared to total soil loss, such quantities are sufficient to degrade air quality. In fact, under atmospheric conditions, which accompany high wind events within the Columbia Plateau, a loss of only 5 kg/ha of PM10 from all agricultural land in summer fallow is sufficient to raise ambient PM10 concentration above the US EPA standard. Therefore, alternative tillage or cropping practices are sought for reducing the loss of topsoil and PM10 from fields managed in summer fallow during high wind events.

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Particulate Matter Concentration and Air Quality Affected by Windblown Dust in the Columbia Plateau

Cited by 64 publications

References 4 publications

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

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

East Asian dust storm in May 2017: observations, modelling, and its influence on the Asia-Pacific region

Fugitive dust from agricultural land affecting air quality within the Columbia Plateau, USA

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