WRF-Chem Simulation of a Saharan Dust Outbreak Over the Mediterranean Regions

Rizza, Umberto; Anabor, Vagner; Mangia, Cristina; Miglietta, Mario Marcello; Degrazia, Gervásio Annes; Passerini, G.

doi:10.5902/2179460x20249

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This latter is further divided into three emission parameterizations with a progressive level of simplification (Shao, 2001(Shao, , 2004Shao et al, 2011a). A preliminary comparison between the DUST-GOCART/AFWA and the DUSTUOC-Shao (2001) (S01) schemes is discussed in Rizza et al (2016), showing that the GOCART/AFWA emission scheme produces an important over-prediction of the dust concentration. This is also in agreement with recent findings by Fountoukis et al (2016).…”

Section: Dust Emission Parameterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A preliminary study by Rizza et al (2016) used WRFChem with a dust emission scheme based on a semiempirical dependence between the horizontal and the vertical dust fluxes (Marticorena and Bergametti, 1995), highlighting a large over-prediction of the AOD dust outbreak over Europe. In this work we test the use of a more advanced physicsbased dust emission scheme proposed by Shao (2001, hereinafter denoted S01), which explicitly considers the two major emission mechanisms for mineral dust, namely the saltation bombardment (Marticorena and Bergametti, 1995) and the aggregate disintegration, and a refined four-classes texture soil type.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

WRF-Chem model simulations of a dust outbreak over the central Mediterranean and comparison with multi-sensor desert dust observations

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate an intense Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over the Mediterranean in May 2014. Comparison of a simulation using a physics-based desert dust emission scheme with a numerical experiment using a simplified (minimal) emission scheme is included to highlight the advantages of the former. The model was found to reproduce well the synoptic meteorological conditions driving the dust outbreak: an omega-like pressure configuration associated with a cyclogenesis in the Atlantic coasts of Spain. The model performances in reproducing the atmospheric desert dust load were evaluated using a multi-platform observational dataset of aerosol and desert dust properties, including optical properties from satellite and ground-based sun photometers and lidars, plus in situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. This comparison allowed us to investigate the model ability in reproducing both the horizontal and the vertical displacement of the dust plume, as well as its evolution in time.The comparison with satellite (MODIS-Terra) and sun photometers (AERONET) showed that the model is able to reproduce well the horizontal field of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its evolution in time (temporal correlation coefficient with AERONET of 0.85). On the vertical scale, the comparison with lidar data at a single site (Rome, Italy) confirms that the desert dust advection occurs in several, superimposed "pulses" as simulated by the model. Crossanalysis of the modeled AOD and desert dust emission fluxes further allowed for the source regions of the observed plumes to be inferred. The vertical displacement of the modeled dust plume was in rather good agreement with the lidar soundings, with correlation coefficients among aerosol extinction profiles up to 1 and mean discrepancy of about 50 %.The model-measurement comparison for PM 10 and PM 2.5 showed a good temporal matching, although it revealed a marked overestimation of PM 10 and PM 2.5 (of the order of 70 % during the dust peak). For PM 10 , it was also possible to investigate the accordance between the model-and the measurement-based dust PM 10 , this confirming the model PM 10 overestimation to be related to over-predicted dust mass up to a factor of 140 %. In all the model-measurement comparisons performed, the enhanced capabilities of the physics-based emission scheme with respect to its simplified, minimal version were evident and are documented.

show abstract

Section: Dust Emission Parameterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

WRF-Chem model simulations of a dust outbreak over the central Mediterranean and comparison with multi-sensor desert dust observations

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…5q-r) extended further northeastwards than those with GOCART and AFWA, and were more consistent with the observations. The overestimation of the AFWA scheme might in part be explained by the fact that the AFWA scheme considered vertical dust flux only related to the clay content, unlike the UOC scheme which considered it to be inversely proportional to surface hardness (Kang et al, 2010;Rizza et al, 2016Rizza et al, , 2017. Meanwhile, the misuse in number and distribution of saltation size bins in AFWA might also be part of the reason.…”

Section: Comparison Of Erodible Land Fractions In Cmaq V521 and Chimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The selection and usage of dust emission schemes and their input datasets are very important in establishing reliable air quality prediction. The evaluation and validation of dust emission schemes and relevant datasets in different air quality models on a continental scale has been carried out for East Asia (Dong et al, 2016), western Asia (Nabavi et al, 2017;LeGrand et al, 2019), North America (Foroutan et al, 2017), Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East (Menut et al, 2013b;Flaounas et al, 2017;Rizza et al, 2017). Nevertheless, evaluation of the regional performance of different air quality models and dust schemes remains inadequate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodel simulations of a springtime dust storm over northeastern China: implications of an evaluation of four commonly used air quality models (CMAQ v5.2.1, CAMx v6.50, CHIMERE v2017r4, and WRF-Chem v3.9.1)

Zhang

Gao

et al. 2019

Geosci. Model Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Mineral dust particles play an important role in the Earth system, imposing a variety of effects on air quality, climate, human health, and economy. Accurate forecasts of dust events are highly desirable to provide an early warning and inform the decision-making process. East Asia is one of the largest dust sources in the world. This study applies and evaluates four widely used regional air quality models to simulate dust storms in northeastern China. Three dust schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) (version 3.9.1), two schemes in both CHIMERE (version 2017r4) and CMAQ (version 5.2.1), and one scheme in CAMx (version 6.50) were applied to a dust event during 4–6 May 2015 in northeastern China. Most of these models were able to capture this dust event with the exception of CAMx, which has no dust source map covering the study area; hence, another dust source mask map was introduced to replace the default one for the subsequent simulation. Although these models reproduced the spatial pattern of the dust plume, there were large discrepancies between predicted and observed PM10 concentrations in each model. In general, CHIMERE had relatively better performance among all simulations with default configurations. After parameter tuning, WRF-Chem with the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) scheme using a seasonal dust source map from Ginoux et al. (2012) showed the best performance, followed by WRF-Chem with the UOC_Shao2004 scheme, CHIMERE, and CMAQ. The performance of CAMx had significantly improved by substituting the default dust map and removing the friction velocity limitation. This study suggested that the dust source maps should be carefully selected on a regional scale or replaced with a new one constructed with local data. Moreover, further study and measurement of sandblasting efficiency of different soil types and locations should be conducted to improve the accuracy of estimated vertical dust fluxes in air quality models.

show abstract

“…But, there is a large diversity in simulated dust budgets among different models. WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry model) was used by Rizza et al (2016) in order to simulation of the mineral dust transport over the Mediterranean regions, showing a large over-prediction of the AOD dust outbreak over Europe. Additionally, in the similar study over the central Mediterranean, Rizza et al (2017) witnessed an overestimation in the concentration of the model PM 2.5 and PM 10 using WRF-Chem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of mineral dust aerosols in southwestern iran through numerical prediction models

Broomandi

Dabir

Bonakdarpour

et al. 2017

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using the Numerical Prediction Models in mineral dust cycle is of prime importance in investigation of aerosol contribution in climatic changes. In this paper, a modelling system is developed to study a local characterization of Shalamceh dust intrusions in PM10 levels in Ahvaz city. The model chain consists of three different modules: the meteorological model (WRF), the dust emission model (COMSALT) and transport/deposition model (CAMx). Applying a physically based parameterization of the vertical dust fluxes emitted from the eroding soil could reduce the need for empirical source functions in dust emission models. For the selected case study, 6/1/2010 and 6/10/2010, the numerical simulations were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of modeling system. The comparison between observation and modeled results shows a good agreement. Different scenarios used to investigate the role of desertification and weak structure soils in air quality. Results show an increase in PM10 levels in Ahvaz due to the growth of wind erodible lands and the reduction of soil cohesive forces. In addition, the dry deposition fluxes of some detected heavy metals in different situations were estimated. Also, dust emission potential was inspected with the absorbing aerosol index data from Ozone Measurement Instrument (OMI) in the studied area. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1380–1393, 2018

show abstract

WRF-Chem Simulation of a Saharan Dust Outbreak Over the Mediterranean Regions

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

WRF-Chem model simulations of a dust outbreak over the central Mediterranean and comparison with multi-sensor desert dust observations

WRF-Chem model simulations of a dust outbreak over the central Mediterranean and comparison with multi-sensor desert dust observations

Multimodel simulations of a springtime dust storm over northeastern China: implications of an evaluation of four commonly used air quality models (CMAQ v5.2.1, CAMx v6.50, CHIMERE v2017r4, and WRF-Chem v3.9.1)

Simulation of mineral dust aerosols in southwestern iran through numerical prediction models

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About